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Lot Essay
This is one of four versions of a composition depicting a bull and cattle being herded by a rustic on a donkey through water towards a lane in the direction of Canterbury. The major work 'Landscape and Cattle, View Bingley Gate, Suburbs of Canterbury', oil on canvas, 20 x 28 in., dated 1833, was exhibited at the Society of British Artists, Winter Exhibition, 1833-34, no.8, (Christie's, 11 June 2002, lot 160, illustrated in catalogue). Another slightly smaller version, omitting the rustic youth herding the cattle, dated 1833, is titled 'The Watering Place', oil on canvas, 17 x 21 in., (formerly in the collection of the late Henry H.Walrond of Somerset). A smaller oil on panel, 11=x15in., titled 'Bingley Gate, near Canterbury' in Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery, Kent, (Brenchley Bequest no.29), has a notice from the Metropolitan Magazine pasted on reverse suggesting that it is the picture exhibited at Suffolk Street in 1836 (see note below). However, it is more likely that this is an early compositional study for the 1833 exhibited work.
Bingley Gate is not identified on any maps or plans in the vicinity of Canterbury. However, the towers of the Westgate seen in the distance provide a visual aid to the location. From the evidence of the four very similar views by Cooper the 'gate' appears to have been a local designation for the fording place from Bingley's Island, south west of the city wall, formed by tributaries of the River Stour.
The study for the bull in the centre foreground was also the model for the similarly placed bull in Returning to the Farm of 1832, (see lot 105), and also appears in a watercolour dated 1849.
A label on reverse referring to an inscription on the back of the canvas, states that the painting was exhibited at the Society of British Artist's Winter Exhibition 1834. However, the Winter Exhibition of 1833-34 at Suffolk Street was already in progress at the time of the date of this painting. A picture titled 'Bingley Gate' was exhibited at Suffolk Street in 1836 (no.381), but it is very unlikely that Cooper would have sent a painting dated 1834 for exhibition two years later. The 1836 work has not been located and therefore the composition is not known. However a review of the exhibition in The Times, 21 March 1836, noted "This picture contains some excellently painted cattle".
Bingley Gate is not identified on any maps or plans in the vicinity of Canterbury. However, the towers of the Westgate seen in the distance provide a visual aid to the location. From the evidence of the four very similar views by Cooper the 'gate' appears to have been a local designation for the fording place from Bingley's Island, south west of the city wall, formed by tributaries of the River Stour.
The study for the bull in the centre foreground was also the model for the similarly placed bull in Returning to the Farm of 1832, (see lot 105), and also appears in a watercolour dated 1849.
A label on reverse referring to an inscription on the back of the canvas, states that the painting was exhibited at the Society of British Artist's Winter Exhibition 1834. However, the Winter Exhibition of 1833-34 at Suffolk Street was already in progress at the time of the date of this painting. A picture titled 'Bingley Gate' was exhibited at Suffolk Street in 1836 (no.381), but it is very unlikely that Cooper would have sent a painting dated 1834 for exhibition two years later. The 1836 work has not been located and therefore the composition is not known. However a review of the exhibition in The Times, 21 March 1836, noted "This picture contains some excellently painted cattle".