FDA-D.313-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-D.313-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
Hyde Park – Winter
Pilkington
Pilkington
Title Type
assigned by artist
collection
collection
Comments
Born near Leeds, Ibbetson was first apprenticed to a tradesman painter in Hull before running away to London. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1785 and continued to show regularly for the next thirty years, a mixture of oils and watercolours, landscapes and figure subjects taken from everyday life.
His second appearance at the Academy, in 1786, was with an oil of a skating scene in Hyde Park which was published as one of a pair the following year with the title 'Winter Amusement'. This was the period of the 'mini Ice Age' in Britain, with a series of particularly hard winters. The Thames froze on a number of occasions, the last being in 1814; after the completion of the new London Bridge in 1831, the wider arches allowed too great a flow of water for the river to freeze.
This 1796 scene of skating in Hyde Park was paired at the Academy with a summer scene entitled 'A view in Hyde Park - Summer', which is now identified as the watercolour 'St James's Park - Summer ' in the Yale Center for British Art. Ibbetson was certainly aware of the success of De Loutherbourg's 'Winter morning with a party skating', exhibited in 1776 and engraved in 1784, but republished in 1794 with a pair entitled 'Summer evening'.
His second appearance at the Academy, in 1786, was with an oil of a skating scene in Hyde Park which was published as one of a pair the following year with the title 'Winter Amusement'. This was the period of the 'mini Ice Age' in Britain, with a series of particularly hard winters. The Thames froze on a number of occasions, the last being in 1814; after the completion of the new London Bridge in 1831, the wider arches allowed too great a flow of water for the river to freeze.
This 1796 scene of skating in Hyde Park was paired at the Academy with a summer scene entitled 'A view in Hyde Park - Summer', which is now identified as the watercolour 'St James's Park - Summer ' in the Yale Center for British Art. Ibbetson was certainly aware of the success of De Loutherbourg's 'Winter morning with a party skating', exhibited in 1776 and engraved in 1784, but republished in 1794 with a pair entitled 'Summer evening'.
Description
Dimensions
height (actual size): 438mm
width (actual size): 594mm
width (actual size): 594mm
Inscription
Signed 'Julius Ibbetson ad nat' (lower right)
Materials & techniques note
Pen & grey ink, and watercolour
Production
Person
Ibbetson, Julius Caesar, 1759 - 1817 (Artist)
Date
1796
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Collection of Alan Pilkington; by whom presented to Eton College in 1969
Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1796 as 'Hyde Park - Winter'; Hidden Treasures, 2010; 'A Genius for Watercolour', Christie's, London, 2003; 'Loan exhibition of Early English Watercolours, Drawings by Old Masters, Etchings & Engravings from the Collection of Alan D. Pilkington', Colnaghi & Co, London, 1958; 'Watercolours from the Eton College Collections', Verey Gallery, Eton College, 24 November 2018 to 24 February 2019
Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1796 as 'Hyde Park - Winter'; Hidden Treasures, 2010; 'A Genius for Watercolour', Christie's, London, 2003; 'Loan exhibition of Early English Watercolours, Drawings by Old Masters, Etchings & Engravings from the Collection of Alan D. Pilkington', Colnaghi & Co, London, 1958; 'Watercolours from the Eton College Collections', Verey Gallery, Eton College, 24 November 2018 to 24 February 2019
Previous ownership
References
• Ryan, H., Hidden Treasures, W.S. Fine Art exhibition catalogue, 2010 (p. 32, no. 11)
• Christie's, A Genius for Watercolour; Watercolours from the Eton College Collection, exhibition catalogue, London, 2003 (p. 36, no. 29)
• McConnell, J. (ed.), Treasures of Eton, London, 1976 (p. 113, pl. 20)
• Hardie, M., Water-Colour Painting in Britain, London, 1966, vol.I (p. 154)
• Pilkington, A., Loan exhibition of early English watercolours, drawings by Old Masters, etchings & engravings from the collection of Alan D. Pilkington: in aid of the Distressed Gentlefolk's Aid Association, Colnaghi & Co, London, 1958 (no. 13)
• Royal Academy of Arts, Winter Exhibition, 1951-1952: The first hundred years of the Royal Academy, 1769-1868, London, 1951 (no. 462)
• Clay, R.M., Julius Caesar Ibbetson, London, 1948 (pp. 45-6, 129 & pl. 53)
• Christie's, A Genius for Watercolour; Watercolours from the Eton College Collection, exhibition catalogue, London, 2003 (p. 36, no. 29)
• McConnell, J. (ed.), Treasures of Eton, London, 1976 (p. 113, pl. 20)
• Hardie, M., Water-Colour Painting in Britain, London, 1966, vol.I (p. 154)
• Pilkington, A., Loan exhibition of early English watercolours, drawings by Old Masters, etchings & engravings from the collection of Alan D. Pilkington: in aid of the Distressed Gentlefolk's Aid Association, Colnaghi & Co, London, 1958 (no. 13)
• Royal Academy of Arts, Winter Exhibition, 1951-1952: The first hundred years of the Royal Academy, 1769-1868, London, 1951 (no. 462)
• Clay, R.M., Julius Caesar Ibbetson, London, 1948 (pp. 45-6, 129 & pl. 53)
