FDA-D.454-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-D.454-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
Picnicking on a Beach
A picnic in Cornwall
Pilkington
A picnic in Cornwall
Pilkington
Title Type
Common name
Previous title
collection
Previous title
collection
Comments
This delightful and almost pristine watercolour remains on the artist's original mount. The scene represented is almost certainly set in Cornwall and may derive from a visit to Rowlandson's friend Mathew Michell, who was also an important patron. Mathew Michell (1751-1817), a partner in the banking firm of Hodsoll and Michell of 345 Strand, met the artist when Rowlandson lived at 1 James Street, Adelphi and Michell had an address nearby at Beaufort Buildings, Strand. At his country house, Grove End, Enfield, Michell amassed a collection of over 500 works by Rowlandson. Michell also owned Hengar House, St Tudy, Cornwall. This was a few miles north of Bodmin, on the edge of Bodmin Moor. Here he entertained Rowlandson and provided a base from which the artist could make sketching excursions. The picnic depicted here may well be a record of one such happy outing.
Although it depicts a natural and seemingly informal scene, the watercolour is carefully composed, the rocks creating a threatre within which the action is contained. The picnic party (possibly members of Michell's family) are seated in the shelter of a large rock. The sea laps close to the other side of this rock. The circular picnic table is covered with a crisp white cloth. Several dogs gaze expectantly at the table and at the 'sideboard' or cooking area that has been set up by servants a little further up the beach. The two servants, one of whom seems to be preparing to carve a joint of meat, are dressed in green livery. A further servant is feeding the horses which have carried the picnickers and baggage to the site. Every detail of the scene is beautifully recorded, without any sense of caricature, and the whole is unified by a delicate use of watercolour. Although he lived well into the nineteenth century, Rowlandson remained faithful to the eighteenth-century manner of making 'stained drawings' in the style of Sandby and Dayes.
Although it depicts a natural and seemingly informal scene, the watercolour is carefully composed, the rocks creating a threatre within which the action is contained. The picnic party (possibly members of Michell's family) are seated in the shelter of a large rock. The sea laps close to the other side of this rock. The circular picnic table is covered with a crisp white cloth. Several dogs gaze expectantly at the table and at the 'sideboard' or cooking area that has been set up by servants a little further up the beach. The two servants, one of whom seems to be preparing to carve a joint of meat, are dressed in green livery. A further servant is feeding the horses which have carried the picnickers and baggage to the site. Every detail of the scene is beautifully recorded, without any sense of caricature, and the whole is unified by a delicate use of watercolour. Although he lived well into the nineteenth century, Rowlandson remained faithful to the eighteenth-century manner of making 'stained drawings' in the style of Sandby and Dayes.
Other number
Pi 177
Description
Dimensions
height (actual size): 187mm
width (actual size): 272mm
width (actual size): 272mm
Materials & techniques note
Pencil, pen and grey and brown ink, and watercolour, on the artist's original mount
Production
Person
Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756 - 1827 (Artist)
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Collection of Alan Pilkington; by whom presented/bequeathed to Eton College
Previous ownership
Pilkington, Alan, 1879 - 1973: Bequeathed to Eton by Alan Pilkington, 1973
