Lot Essay
This is one of a group of monochromatic landscapes with small figures, all of the same size, executed in 1820 and 1821. Another was part of the same lot at Sotheby's in 1972, illustrated. Others were sold there, 18 July 1974, lot 19, illustrated; 22 November 1979, lot 23, illustrated; and 10 March 1988, lot 137; see also John Martin, exhibition catalogue, Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox, London, October-November 1975, nos.24 and 25, illustrated. All these sepia drawings suggest a bygone age with some evocative incident.