Trees by a pool

Black and white chalks and coloured paper were much favoured by artists drawing out of doors. Using the paper as the mid-tone, effects could be captured at speed, and without the need of water or pigments. This tree study shows how de Wint could instinctively compose a picture as he drew in the open air. On occasion de Wint made 'portraits' of individual trees: he painted several watercolours of the 'Druid Oaks' at Oakly Park, the seat of the Hon. Robert Clive M.P.

A number of watercolours by de Wint included in this sale have particularly noteable provenance (lots 84, 86, 108, 120, 129). After the artist's death many of his works were sold in these Rooms, 22-24 May and 27-28 May 1850, but a number were kept and passed down from de Wint's wife Harriet to their daughter, Mrs Helen Tatlock, the artist's daughter, and subsequently from Miss Harriet Helen Tatlock, and then the artist's granddaughter to Miss Muriel Grace Bostock, her companion.