11th Dec, 2024 12:00
Fine Paintings & Works on Paper
13
WILLIAM CALLOW (BRITISH 1812-1908)
ST. GOARHAUSEN ON THE RHINE
signed and dated Wm Callow 1861 lower left
watercolour over pencil on paper
27 x 69.5cm; 10 1/2 x 27in
48.5 x 90cm; 19 x 35 1/2in (framed)
Property from a Private Collector, Oxford
Provenance
Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd., London
Acquired from the above by the present owner
The present lot depicts a view of Sankt Goar in the Rhine region, Germany; a vista that William Callow would repeatedly return to throughout his extensive career. Callow's first visit to Switzerland and Germany was in 1838, before returning in 1861-2 for a second sketching tour to Coburg, Potsdam and Berlin, during which time the present watercolour was executed.
Callow’s watercolours satisfied the growing demand for travel imagery depicting scenic views and picturesque corners of European cities. Over the course of his long career, Callow’s working methods and choice of subjects barely changed, and his extensive oeuvre represents the final expression of the early nineteenth-century topographic watercolour tradition.
From the 1830s until the early years of the twentieth century Callow exhibited annually at the Society of Painters in Water Colours, and in 1907, at the age of 95, he attended his own retrospective exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in London.
Sold for £1,200
ST. GOARHAUSEN ON THE RHINE
signed and dated Wm Callow 1861 lower left
watercolour over pencil on paper
27 x 69.5cm; 10 1/2 x 27in
48.5 x 90cm; 19 x 35 1/2in (framed)
Property from a Private Collector, Oxford
Provenance
Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd., London
Acquired from the above by the present owner
The present lot depicts a view of Sankt Goar in the Rhine region, Germany; a vista that William Callow would repeatedly return to throughout his extensive career. Callow's first visit to Switzerland and Germany was in 1838, before returning in 1861-2 for a second sketching tour to Coburg, Potsdam and Berlin, during which time the present watercolour was executed.
Callow’s watercolours satisfied the growing demand for travel imagery depicting scenic views and picturesque corners of European cities. Over the course of his long career, Callow’s working methods and choice of subjects barely changed, and his extensive oeuvre represents the final expression of the early nineteenth-century topographic watercolour tradition.
From the 1830s until the early years of the twentieth century Callow exhibited annually at the Society of Painters in Water Colours, and in 1907, at the age of 95, he attended his own retrospective exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in London.
Auction: Fine Paintings & Works on Paper, 11th Dec, 2024
Auction Location: London, UK
Our sale of Fine Paintings and Works on Paper features 80 lots spanning four centuries. It includes works from two significant deceased estates: art dealer Alexander Iolas who promoted the bright and playful works by Jean Hugo and Niki de Sainte Phalle (lots 44-52), and gallerist Karsten Schubert, led by a green revolver on a vibrant red background by Michael Craig-Martin (lot 53), currently the subject of a retrospective at the Royal Academy, Piccadilly.
Colour dominates many of the post-War works. A stripe painting by the leading Washington Colour Field artist Gene Davis is a sale highlight. Davis worked alongside Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland also from D.C. in the 1950s and ‘60s perfecting his distinctive style. 65-6 by Davis (lot 58) dances and rhymes before the viewer’s eye. From the same collection and similarly optical are the works by Joe Tilson (lot 60) from 1965, and a rare painting by Justin Knowles (lot 59). Fellow colourist Howard Hodgkin is represented by Here we are in Croydon from 1979 (lot 63).
Modern British is led by an attractive group of watercolours by John Nash (lots 34-37), all acquired from the artist by the present owner’s grandfather. Other British figurative painters featured in the sale include Alan Lowdnes with a street scene in Altrincham near Manchester (lot 40), and three sketches by the young Michael Andrews (lots 41-43). Elsewhere there are works by John Piper and humorous illustrations by graphic artists Ronald Searle and Quentin Blake (lots 71 & 72).
Artists from further afield include two 18th/ 19th century Cuzco paintings from Peru and good Australian examples: a watercolour by John Russell of the Pont de Neuilly, and an atmospheric painting of a dust storm in the New South Wales out back by John Charles Goodhart of 1907 capturing a storm that year (lots 31 & 38). ‘en plein-air’-ists in the sale include Otto Modersohn, co-founder of Worpswede school in Bavaria in the 1890s (lot 19) and three delightful paintings of children by Scottish painter Gemmel Hutchison, influenced by Barbizon in France and the Hague School in Holland (lots 27, 28 & 30).
For more information please contact us | pictures@olympiaauctions.com | +44 (0)20 7806 5541
Viewing
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 8th December: 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Monday 9th December: 10:00am to 8:00pm
Tuesday 10th December: 10:00am to 5:00pm
