Conway Castle

Details

David Cox, Sen. (1783-1859)
Conway Castle
oil on canvas
25 1/8 x 36 3/8 in. (63.8 x 92.4 cm.)

Provenance

Bequeathed by the Artist to his son, David Cox, of Park Road, Brixton Hill.
David Cox Junior, his sale, Christie's 3 May 1873, lot 139, as 'A distant View of Conway Castle' (1000 gns to Agnew)
Sir William Agnew.
Manchester, Whitworth Institute.
Whitworth Institute, Manchester; Christie's, 23 May 1947, lot 70 (? unsold).
Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 20 July 1990, lot 343, when acquired by the present owner.

Literature

N. Solly, Memoir of the Life of David Cox, 1873, p.207.

Exhibited

Liverpool Art Club, 1875, no. 30, lent by William Agnew.
London, Royal Academy, 1895, no. 34, lent by William Agnew.
Whitechapel, St. Jude's, 1901, no. 134, lent by William Agnew.
Glasgow, International Exhibition, 1901, no. 73, lent by William Agnew.
Distant Prospects and Familiar Shores, 1996, no. 2.
Space and Light, 1999, no. 8

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

David Cox, who was born in Birmingham, moved to London in 1804 where he received lessons from John Varley. He moved to Hereford in 1815, as drawing master at Miss Croucher's school, where he lived until 1827, then returning to London. While in Hereford he published a Treatise on Landscape Painting and Effect in Watercolours (1814), Progressive Lessons in Landscape for Young Beginners (1816) and the The Young Artist's Companion (1819-20). Cox painted mainly in watercolour but also in oil, which he began to take more seriously later in his career, taking lessons from William Muller. He made many sketching tours of England and Wales, visiting the latter for the first time in 1805. This composition is dated by Solly (op.cit.) to 1848 who comments that 'The effect is that of very early morning, tender yet rather harmonious in colour'. Conway Castle which was built for King Edward I in the late thirteenth century was a popular subject with artists in the early nineteenth century who were attracted by its Romantic grandeur.

More from THE FORBES COLLECTION OF VICTORIAN PICTURES AND WORKS OF ART

View All