FDA-D.490-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-D.490-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
Grasmere Lake, Looking Towards Dunmail Raise
Whiteley
Whiteley
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
collection
collection
Comments
Smith was born in Cumberland and had his first lessons in art from Captain John Gilpin, father of William Gilpin. Having attracted the attention of the Earl of Warwick, Smith was funded to travel to Italy from 1776-81. Through his contacts with Thomas Jones, William Pars and Francis Towne, Smith produced some of his most adventurous work. On his return to England, he was greatly in demand as a teacher and as a landscape draughtsman, producing several large series of watercolours to commission. Highly unusually for the time, he never exhibited his work, presumably since he had no lack of clients, until he joined the Watercolour Society in 1807.
This view of Grasmere is one of a series of Lake District scenes painted for John Christian Curwen from 1791 to 1795. Curwen, who became the owner of Belle Isle on Lake Windermere in 1791, was the dedicatee of the prints engraved after twelve of these views and published in 1795. Smith's view looks north over Grasmere towards the pass that carries the main road through the Lakes towards Keswick. Above it stands Dunmail Raise, a large cairn said to commemorate the death of Dunmail, last king of Cumbria, who fell in battle in 945. William Gilpin, in his Picturesque Tour of the Lakes, rather let his imagination run away with him when he described the spot as 'of all the scenes I ever saw, ...the most adapted to the perpetration of some dreadful deed'.
This view of Grasmere is one of a series of Lake District scenes painted for John Christian Curwen from 1791 to 1795. Curwen, who became the owner of Belle Isle on Lake Windermere in 1791, was the dedicatee of the prints engraved after twelve of these views and published in 1795. Smith's view looks north over Grasmere towards the pass that carries the main road through the Lakes towards Keswick. Above it stands Dunmail Raise, a large cairn said to commemorate the death of Dunmail, last king of Cumbria, who fell in battle in 945. William Gilpin, in his Picturesque Tour of the Lakes, rather let his imagination run away with him when he described the spot as 'of all the scenes I ever saw, ...the most adapted to the perpetration of some dreadful deed'.
Other number
MFW 35
Description
Dimensions
height (actual size): 343mm
width (actual size): 508mm
width (actual size): 508mm
Inscription
Inscribed on the mount: 'Grasmere Lake, looking towards Dunmailrace'; and numbered: '54'
Materials & techniques note
Pencil and watercolour, laid onto the artist's grey wash border
Production
Person
Smith, John 'Warwick', 1749 - 1831 (Artist)
Date
1788-92
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Collection of J.C. Curwen; collection of Martin Whiteley; by whom bequeathed to Eton College
Exhibited: 'A Genius for Watercolour', Christie’s, London, 6 to 24 January 2003, (catalogue number 32)
Exhibited: 'A Genius for Watercolour', Christie’s, London, 6 to 24 January 2003, (catalogue number 32)
Previous ownership
Whiteley, Martin F, 1930 - 1984: Bequeathed to Eton by Martin Whiteley
