View of Honfleur, France

Callow visited Honfleur in 1835 on his walking tour and executed the present watercolour from memory a year later. He was very taken with the picturesque qualities of the little fishing port returning to the subject on a number of occasions. He exhibited views of Honfleur at the Old Water-Colour Society in 1858, 1867, 1874, 1877 and 1889. The present watercolour is most likely to be that of 1874, Fishing boats leaving Honfleur - early morning, no. 25. A view of Honfleur is also illustrated in the Old Water-Colour Society Club Annual, London, 1944, pl. 11. A similar watercolour was sold at Christie's London, 2 April 1996, lot 61, (£6,325).
We are grateful to John Zwemmer for his help preparing this catalogue entry.