2nd Oct, 2024 12:00
Drawings and Watercolours from the Iolo Williams Collection
44
ATTRIBUTED TO SIR ROBERT KER PORTER (SCOTTISH 1777-1842)
THE GREAT LAVRA BELLTOWER OF THE KIEV MONASTERY OF THE CAVES
inscribed in Cyrillic and dated 22 Jul 1808 upper edge and Kiev verso
pen and ink and watercolour on two sheets
each sheet measuring 27.5 x 35cm; 10 3/4 x 13 3/4in
together with nine further topographical views including La Vallée Sombre dans L'Isle de Rodrigues, Grutli Lake Lucerne, The Temple of Apollo and the Lake of Averno by various hands including by or attributed to Francesco Zuccharelli, Hugh Primrose Dean and William Delamotte
various sizes, all unframed
(10)
Porter was appointed historical painter at the court of Tsar Alexander I of Russia in 1805, being employed in decorating Admiralty Hall, St Petersburg with vast historical paintings. While in St Petersburg, he wooed the Russian princess Mary de Scherbatoff, daughter of Prince Theodor. The prospects of this courtship and of Porter's personal safety were complicated due to the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit, which aligned Russia with Napoleon Bonaparte and therefore against Britain. Porter was forced to leave St Petersburg and cross the border into Finland on 10th December 1807. Before his return to Britain he was knighted in Sweden by Gustavus IV, became a knight of St Joachim of Württemberg, and accompanied Sir John Moore to Spain for the Peninsular War. In 1809 Porter published his remarkable account of his adventures through Russia and Europe in in two volumes with over forty illustrations accompanying the text.Travelling Sketches in Russia and Sweden, During the Years 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808. London, 1809.
Sold for £3,800
THE GREAT LAVRA BELLTOWER OF THE KIEV MONASTERY OF THE CAVES
inscribed in Cyrillic and dated 22 Jul 1808 upper edge and Kiev verso
pen and ink and watercolour on two sheets
each sheet measuring 27.5 x 35cm; 10 3/4 x 13 3/4in
together with nine further topographical views including La Vallée Sombre dans L'Isle de Rodrigues, Grutli Lake Lucerne, The Temple of Apollo and the Lake of Averno by various hands including by or attributed to Francesco Zuccharelli, Hugh Primrose Dean and William Delamotte
various sizes, all unframed
(10)
Porter was appointed historical painter at the court of Tsar Alexander I of Russia in 1805, being employed in decorating Admiralty Hall, St Petersburg with vast historical paintings. While in St Petersburg, he wooed the Russian princess Mary de Scherbatoff, daughter of Prince Theodor. The prospects of this courtship and of Porter's personal safety were complicated due to the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit, which aligned Russia with Napoleon Bonaparte and therefore against Britain. Porter was forced to leave St Petersburg and cross the border into Finland on 10th December 1807. Before his return to Britain he was knighted in Sweden by Gustavus IV, became a knight of St Joachim of Württemberg, and accompanied Sir John Moore to Spain for the Peninsular War. In 1809 Porter published his remarkable account of his adventures through Russia and Europe in in two volumes with over forty illustrations accompanying the text.Travelling Sketches in Russia and Sweden, During the Years 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808. London, 1809.
Auction: Drawings and Watercolours from the Iolo Williams Collection, 2nd Oct, 2024
A unique auction comprising the collection of 18th and early 19th century British watercolours, once belonging to connoisseur and author Iolo Aneurin Williams (1890-1962). Williams wrote the definitive collectors's guide 'Early English Watercolours' in 1952. Having been kept safely - in storage boxes under a bed - this will be their first appearance on the market for more than 60 years and in some cases much longer.
Iolo Williams was a museums and art critic for The Times from 1936 onwards and an avid collector. Born in Middlesborough, he lived in Hindhead in his youth and latterly in Kew, south-west of London, and formed his collection from the 1930’s to the 1950’s when unidentified drawings could be picked up for a modest price from dealers and auctions. Through diligent research, he identified many works as being by leading exponents of the golden age of British drawings and watercolours: artists such as Thomas Girtin, Richard Wilson, William Payne, John Varley and Paul Sandby. He also discovered and put on record other artists about whom little was then known.
In 1952 he published his monumental and highly influential work Early English Water-Colours, and Some Cognate Drawings by Artists Born Not Later Than 1785' which listed and discussed works by 600 British draughtsmen. Arts writer Huon MallaIieu, in his own essential book for collectors Understanding Watercolours of 1985, describes it as “both a labour of love and scholarship undertaken by one of the most civilised and knowledgeable collectors of his day, it gradually became not only essential reading, but a collector’s item in its own right for cognoscenti” and “a joy to read”.
The auction is a rare opportunity for collectors, both seasoned and new, to enjoy the sort of experience Williams would have had of looking through folders of mixed, unframed drawings and watercolours in which hidden gems could be discovered.
Contact Suzanne Zack for further information about this auction | suzanne.zack@olympiaauctions.com | + 44 (0) 20 7806 5541
Viewing Times:
29th Sep 2024 12:00 - 16:00
30th Sep 2024 10:00 - 20:00
01st Oct 2024 10:00 - 17:00
