FDA-D.207-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-D.207-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
Cricket on College Field
Cricket Match on College Field
Cricket Match on College Field
Title Type
Formal name
Previous title
Previous title
Comments
William Evans was the second of four generations of Eton drawing masters who taught at the College from 1808 until 1922. His father, Samuel Evans, taught the two youngest daughters of George III around the turn of the eighteenth century before coming to Eton. William was a pupil at the school from 1808 to 1815, then worked as assistant to his father before succeeding him in 1823. William was in turn followed by his son, Samuel, in 1853.
William became an Associate of the Watercolour Society in 1828, and in only his second appearance, in 1829, was able to advertise a view of Eton as purchased by the king. As well as Eton and Windsor, Evans exhibited landscapes of many different parts of the Brisith Isles, including Scotland and Ireland, where he was often invited as a guest of various former pupils at the school.
Evans's teaching method was quite traditional, concentrating on the basics of drawing, but he did take pupils out into the College grounds to draw. One of the earliest records of his teaching activities at Eton, when he was employed to teach the daughters of the Head Master, Dr Keate, finds them out drawing on the playing field. Evans' two views of College sports both appear to date from the 1830s, when he produced several evocative images of Eton life, including a pair of Montem subects in 1831 and a picture of the 4th of June Procession of Boats which was engraved in 1837. He may well have planned to have the games pictures issued as prints, but this never happened. There were considerable difficultes over the lithographs of his second pair of Montem picures, put in the hands of the lithographer in 1848 but not published until 1852; for all their attractiveness, these two sporting pictures were never allowed to suffer a similar fate.
A sketch for this composition, with dashes of colour on buff paper (CL216) also exists. This final composition is one of William's best known works, showing several games in progress at once on the Playing Fields. The informality and season is emphasised by the cherry seller. Though the work is not dated stylistically it belongs to the mid 1830s when he was finding new subjects in the school's games.
William became an Associate of the Watercolour Society in 1828, and in only his second appearance, in 1829, was able to advertise a view of Eton as purchased by the king. As well as Eton and Windsor, Evans exhibited landscapes of many different parts of the Brisith Isles, including Scotland and Ireland, where he was often invited as a guest of various former pupils at the school.
Evans's teaching method was quite traditional, concentrating on the basics of drawing, but he did take pupils out into the College grounds to draw. One of the earliest records of his teaching activities at Eton, when he was employed to teach the daughters of the Head Master, Dr Keate, finds them out drawing on the playing field. Evans' two views of College sports both appear to date from the 1830s, when he produced several evocative images of Eton life, including a pair of Montem subects in 1831 and a picture of the 4th of June Procession of Boats which was engraved in 1837. He may well have planned to have the games pictures issued as prints, but this never happened. There were considerable difficultes over the lithographs of his second pair of Montem picures, put in the hands of the lithographer in 1848 but not published until 1852; for all their attractiveness, these two sporting pictures were never allowed to suffer a similar fate.
A sketch for this composition, with dashes of colour on buff paper (CL216) also exists. This final composition is one of William's best known works, showing several games in progress at once on the Playing Fields. The informality and season is emphasised by the cherry seller. Though the work is not dated stylistically it belongs to the mid 1830s when he was finding new subjects in the school's games.
Other number
CL 158
Description
Content (object)
sports & games
Content (place)
Eton College
Dimensions
height (sight size): 685mm
width (sight size): 940mm
height (frame): 769mm
width (frame): 1054mm
depth (frame): 42mm
width (sight size): 940mm
height (frame): 769mm
width (frame): 1054mm
depth (frame): 42mm
Materials & techniques note
pencil and watercolour heightened with white
Physical description
Modern gilt frame
Production
Person
Evans, William, 1798 - 1877 (Artist)
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Collection of Miss Nancy Radcliffe Platt; by whom presented to Eton College in memory of the donor's brother, John Roodhurst Platt (Captain of the Oppidans in 1909), in 1975
Exhibited: 'Art Treasures of Eton', Christie's, London; Exhibited: 'William Evans of Eton 1798-1877: A Bicentenary Exhibition', The Brewhouse Gallery, Eton College, ? to 1 August 1998, catalogue number 35; 'A Genius for Watercolour', Christie’s, London, 2003, catalogue no. 16; 'John Player Art of Cricket', London, York and Nottingham, July-November 1983
Exhibited: 'Art Treasures of Eton', Christie's, London; Exhibited: 'William Evans of Eton 1798-1877: A Bicentenary Exhibition', The Brewhouse Gallery, Eton College, ? to 1 August 1998, catalogue number 35; 'A Genius for Watercolour', Christie’s, London, 2003, catalogue no. 16; 'John Player Art of Cricket', London, York and Nottingham, July-November 1983
References
• McConnell, J. (ed.), Treasures of Eton, London, 1976 (p.15, no.3, illustrated in colour)
• Connor, L.M., William Evans of Eton 1798-1877, exhibition catalogue, Brewhouse, Eton 1998 (p.52, illustrated in colour)
• Connor, L.M., William Evans of Eton 1798-1877, exhibition catalogue, Brewhouse, Eton 1998 (p.52, illustrated in colour)
