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拍品專文
Richard Parkes Bonington moved with his family from Nottingham to Calais in 1817, when his father sought to make his fortune in lace making, a family profession he had hoped his son would eventually join. Bonington, however, had other aspirations, and it was during a sketching expedition to the quays of Calais that same year that he chanced to meet the veteran watercolour artist Louis Francia (1773-1839). The encounter had a decisive influence on the young artist’s practice and career.
Francia had recently returned to France after 27 years in London, where he worked as an art tutor and came to admire, and adopt, a distinctly English, naturalistic approach to landscape painting, characterised by the clear, bold technique synonymous with the work of his contemporary Thomas Girtin. Recognising Bonington's talent, Francia became his first watercolour tutor, providing the young artist with a solid technical foundation and ultimately introducing him to his earliest patrons, as well as facilitating further training in Paris.
The coastline and native people of Northern France were a constant source of inspiration throughout Bonington’s short career and, following his family’s move to Paris in early 1819, he continued to make frequent sketching tours along the coast. His early celebrity was founded exclusively on modestly-scaled marine and landscape watercolours, produced at a time of increasing demand for more intimate cabinet pictures. Bonington quickly achieved considerable standing among French artists and collectors, who recognised in his work a freedom and naturalism that stood in marked contrast to the academic classicism of the national school.
In the present work, datable to around 1820, one can immediately appreciate the young artist’s skill in capturing marine subjects. The solidity of the stone quay and its squat inhabitants offer a welcome contrast to the sailors navigating the brio of the sea, rendered with energetic brush strokes and scratching out; delicate layers of watercolour contrast with some heavier applications to mimic this sense of both movement and solidarity. The colour and condition of this work are perhaps unsurpassed by any other watercolour by the artist from this important period in his career – an early achievement that is all the more remarkable given that it was executed after only a year or two of formal training.
Although smaller watercolours of this nature had formed the foundation of Bonington’s practice, in the words of his friend and fellow artist Eugene Delacroix, “universal acclaim would require more ambitious demonstrations of his genius” (Delacroix, Correspondence 4, pp. 287-88), and he therefore began to work in oil in 1823. Pictures produced on his 1826-7 tour of Italy, and most notably Venice, led to exhibitions at the Paris Salon and in London at the British Institution and the Royal Academy. The acclaim that followed resulted in an avalanche of commissions from French and English patrons. The strain of work rapidly took its toll on the young artist and, after a brief illness, his health quickly deteriorated. On the 23 September 1828, a month short of his twenty-sixth birthday, Bonington died of tuberculosis.
Francia had recently returned to France after 27 years in London, where he worked as an art tutor and came to admire, and adopt, a distinctly English, naturalistic approach to landscape painting, characterised by the clear, bold technique synonymous with the work of his contemporary Thomas Girtin. Recognising Bonington's talent, Francia became his first watercolour tutor, providing the young artist with a solid technical foundation and ultimately introducing him to his earliest patrons, as well as facilitating further training in Paris.
The coastline and native people of Northern France were a constant source of inspiration throughout Bonington’s short career and, following his family’s move to Paris in early 1819, he continued to make frequent sketching tours along the coast. His early celebrity was founded exclusively on modestly-scaled marine and landscape watercolours, produced at a time of increasing demand for more intimate cabinet pictures. Bonington quickly achieved considerable standing among French artists and collectors, who recognised in his work a freedom and naturalism that stood in marked contrast to the academic classicism of the national school.
In the present work, datable to around 1820, one can immediately appreciate the young artist’s skill in capturing marine subjects. The solidity of the stone quay and its squat inhabitants offer a welcome contrast to the sailors navigating the brio of the sea, rendered with energetic brush strokes and scratching out; delicate layers of watercolour contrast with some heavier applications to mimic this sense of both movement and solidarity. The colour and condition of this work are perhaps unsurpassed by any other watercolour by the artist from this important period in his career – an early achievement that is all the more remarkable given that it was executed after only a year or two of formal training.
Although smaller watercolours of this nature had formed the foundation of Bonington’s practice, in the words of his friend and fellow artist Eugene Delacroix, “universal acclaim would require more ambitious demonstrations of his genius” (Delacroix, Correspondence 4, pp. 287-88), and he therefore began to work in oil in 1823. Pictures produced on his 1826-7 tour of Italy, and most notably Venice, led to exhibitions at the Paris Salon and in London at the British Institution and the Royal Academy. The acclaim that followed resulted in an avalanche of commissions from French and English patrons. The strain of work rapidly took its toll on the young artist and, after a brief illness, his health quickly deteriorated. On the 23 September 1828, a month short of his twenty-sixth birthday, Bonington died of tuberculosis.