Alfred William Hunt, R.W.S. (1830-1896)

Near Abergele, Wales

Details

Alfred William Hunt, R.W.S. (1830-1896)
Near Abergele, Wales
signed with initials and dated 'A.W.H./1858' (lower left)
pencil and watercolour with scratching out
9¼ x 12¾ in. (23.5 x 32.4 cm.)

Provenance

A.F. Rawlinson, Dial House, Gosfield, Essex.
Anon. sale, Christie's London, 23 June 1944, lot 26 (6 gns. to Walker Galleries).
The Newall Collection; Christie's London, 14 December 1979, lot 197 (to the present owner).

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy, The Great Age of British Watercolours, 15 January-11 April 1993, exhibition catalogue no. 405, pl. 253, illustrated in colour.

Lot Essay

According to an inscription, probably in the hand of Augustus Walker, the present watercolour was bought in a sale at Christie's during which V bombs could be heard overhead. No doubt the writer was referring to the anonymous sale in June 1944. At the time auctions were held at Derby House following the destruction of the King Street rooms in an air raid in 1941.
The present watercolour is an example of Hunt experimenting with a composition, very much in the manner of David Cox.

It has been suggested by Graham Adnitt that the building in the background of the present watercolour might be one of the towers in the park of Gwrych Castle, near Abergele, which was once home to the Earl of Dundonald.

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