FDA-D.524-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-D.524-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
An Angler on the Banks of the Thames at Eton
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
Comments
John Varley was a founder-member of the Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1804 and a popular and influential teacher. It was he who was largely responsible for passing on to a younger generation of professional artisits, including De Wint, Cox and Copley Fielding, the stylistic and technical legacy of Girtin. Even when his pupils had moved on to develop their own personal idiom, Varley, in many, but not all, of his later works, remained true to Girtin's limited palette and honest use of the medium, as is immediately apparent in this watercolour of 1826.
Varley made several early sketching tours to Wales, finding material which provided the subjects not only for his earliest exhibits at the Royal Academy, from 1798, and the Watercolour Society, but fuelled his prolific output throughout his life. In the summer of 1805 he had lodgings in Twickenham, where he encouraged his pupils to make oil studies on the banks of the Thames, and he seems to have taken the opportunity to explore the river to the west of London, as the watercolourists' exhibition in the following year included the first of Varley's views of Windsor, and Eton. The Eton view must have proved especially popular, as Varley continued to repeat the subject at regular intervals over the next twenty years; there are a number of versions, in oils as well as watercolour, in the Eton collection. This composition, looking from Ledbeater's wharf on the Eton bank across the Thames towards Windsor Castle, appears to be unique among Varley's many views of this stretch of the river. Though dated, it cannot be connected with any of the exhibited works. Its freshness and simplicity show that Varley was still able to draw a new atmosphere of calm and intimacy even from an area he had painted many times.
Varley made several early sketching tours to Wales, finding material which provided the subjects not only for his earliest exhibits at the Royal Academy, from 1798, and the Watercolour Society, but fuelled his prolific output throughout his life. In the summer of 1805 he had lodgings in Twickenham, where he encouraged his pupils to make oil studies on the banks of the Thames, and he seems to have taken the opportunity to explore the river to the west of London, as the watercolourists' exhibition in the following year included the first of Varley's views of Windsor, and Eton. The Eton view must have proved especially popular, as Varley continued to repeat the subject at regular intervals over the next twenty years; there are a number of versions, in oils as well as watercolour, in the Eton collection. This composition, looking from Ledbeater's wharf on the Eton bank across the Thames towards Windsor Castle, appears to be unique among Varley's many views of this stretch of the river. Though dated, it cannot be connected with any of the exhibited works. Its freshness and simplicity show that Varley was still able to draw a new atmosphere of calm and intimacy even from an area he had painted many times.
Other number
CL565
Description
Dimensions
height (actual size): 260mm
width (actual size): 346mm
width (actual size): 346mm
Inscription
Signed and dated, lower left, 'J Varley 1826'
Materials & techniques note
Watercolour over graphite
Production
Person
Varley, John, 1778 - 1842 (Artist)
Date
1826
History and association
Object history note
Provenance E: Leger Galleries: Dr J. Kirk; purchased.
Exhibited: A Genius for Watercolour, Christie’s 2003, no. 12.
Exhibited: A Genius for Watercolour, Christie’s 2003, no. 12.
