Lot Essay
This watercolour shows a different scene from that engraved as pl.XII of Comforts of Bath, 1798, which is dominated by a single figure falling from a wheel-chair; drawings related to that aquatint are in the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, the Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven, and the William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Gallery, Rockland. The Victoria Art Gallery, Bath also has a variant of the present drawing, which is close to a later print published in 1810 as Bath Races.
The incident probably takes place on the steep hill below Landsdown Crescent, designed by John Palmer and built in 1789-91 (see Riely, op.cit., pp.38-9, under no.52).
The incident probably takes place on the steep hill below Landsdown Crescent, designed by John Palmer and built in 1789-91 (see Riely, op.cit., pp.38-9, under no.52).