FDA-P.224-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-P.224-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
Eton Chapel from the River
Title Type
assigned by artist
Comments
'TREASURES AT ETON
This outstanding painting by John Varley hangs in Room No.3, on the First Floor of the Brewhouse Gallery. It was bought by the Farrer Trust in 1960, and presented to Eton, although it was shown in the 1947 Eton Quincentenary Exhibition, when in the ownership of the Oxford don, C.H. Wilkinson. For 10 years it hung in the Head Master's School Room, but when the Gallery was opened in 1970, the picture was moved, and has pride of place in a room wholly devoted to pictures and prints of Eton. Although John Varley was primarily a water colour painter, there is no suggestion of inexperience in his handling of oils in this picture, probably painted about 1823, when the artist was aged 45, and at the height of his powers. He is known to have carried out a number of preliminary water colour sketches for this major work.
The picture shows the Chapel and College buildings on a serene summer's evening, from across the River. There is a Thames sailing barge in the right foreground, a jetty and warehouse, and a large expanse of calm water reflecting the evening sunlight, with a small punt containing two figures and a dog, in the foreground. The Chapel itself and the Cloisters are sharply silhouetted against a magical yellowy evening sky. The whole composition exudes confidence and well-being, as though the artist accepted and approved of the ordered way of life depicted. The overall impression is of stillness and, so rare in modern Eton, of silence.
M.F.W.'
[Source: 'Eton College Chronicle', No. 3774, 13 February 1981, p.3; note: M.F.W. is Martin Whiteley]
This outstanding painting by John Varley hangs in Room No.3, on the First Floor of the Brewhouse Gallery. It was bought by the Farrer Trust in 1960, and presented to Eton, although it was shown in the 1947 Eton Quincentenary Exhibition, when in the ownership of the Oxford don, C.H. Wilkinson. For 10 years it hung in the Head Master's School Room, but when the Gallery was opened in 1970, the picture was moved, and has pride of place in a room wholly devoted to pictures and prints of Eton. Although John Varley was primarily a water colour painter, there is no suggestion of inexperience in his handling of oils in this picture, probably painted about 1823, when the artist was aged 45, and at the height of his powers. He is known to have carried out a number of preliminary water colour sketches for this major work.
The picture shows the Chapel and College buildings on a serene summer's evening, from across the River. There is a Thames sailing barge in the right foreground, a jetty and warehouse, and a large expanse of calm water reflecting the evening sunlight, with a small punt containing two figures and a dog, in the foreground. The Chapel itself and the Cloisters are sharply silhouetted against a magical yellowy evening sky. The whole composition exudes confidence and well-being, as though the artist accepted and approved of the ordered way of life depicted. The overall impression is of stillness and, so rare in modern Eton, of silence.
M.F.W.'
[Source: 'Eton College Chronicle', No. 3774, 13 February 1981, p.3; note: M.F.W. is Martin Whiteley]
Description
Content (place)
Eton College
Dimensions
height (sight size): 550mm
width (sight size): 1230mm
height (frame): 745mm
width (frame): 1390mm
depth (frame): 50mm
width (sight size): 1230mm
height (frame): 745mm
width (frame): 1390mm
depth (frame): 50mm
Inscription
Signed lower left: 'J Varley'
Materials & techniques note
Oil on canvas
Physical description
Carved gilt wood frame
Production
Person
Varley, John, 1778 - 1842 (Artist)
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Collection of C.H. Wilkinson, Oxford, by 1947;; purchased by the Farrer Trust in 1960; by whom presented to Eton College in 1960
