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A Local Landscape | Getting to know your local surroundings
Despite these unprecedented times where the nation is now largely being told to stay indoors, it does feel as though we have been given a sign that perhaps it is time for everyone to pause, take a step back, and slow down.
For those of us now consigned to our houses for the next three weeks, perhaps one of the silver linings is that we are at last seeing a pause to all the rain that we have had over the last two months and the sun is now, thankfully and despite its frankly ironic timing, here.
The good weather and permission to leave the house once a day for exercise, means there is now an opportunity to explore less public green spaces. Picnics may currently be off the menu but not too far from Newbury is the beautiful Savernake Forest which is open to the public and depicted in this watercolour by George Vicat Cole which will be coming up for sale at Dreweatts later this year.
Savernake Forest
Located between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn just across the border in Wiltshire, the 4,500 acre forest is privately owned by the Earl of Cardigan and his son Viscount Savernake and is the only privately owned forest in Britain. The forest is maintained by shutting to the public one day a year.
First mentioned in 1066, the Royal forest was established in the 12th century and put into the care of Richard Esturmy and since then has passed down from father to son (and daughter on four occasions) in an unbroken line of hereditary ‘forest wardens’.
A particularly interesting time in the forest’s history is during the 15th century, when the ‘forest warden’ Sir John Seymour, was used to visits to the forest by King Henry VIII, who enjoyed hunting deer there. It is believed that it was during a stay in 1535, that the King first became taken with his host’s daughter Jane Seymour who would the following year become Henry’s third wife and Queen of England.
A second high-point for the forest occurred under the wardship of Charles Bruce and his nephew Thomas Bruce-Brundell, Lord Thomas Bruce, Earl of Ailesbury (wardens form 1741-1815). Lord Thomas had become very successful, rising at court to become Governor to Kind George IV. He was therefore able to employ Capability Brown to plant great beech avenues which at the time, was ten times larger than it is today (about 40,000 acres). These trees would have been planted by the time Vicat Cole came to paint his watercolour of the two resting picnickers.
George Vicat Cole (1833-1893)
George Vicat Cole (1833-1893) was the son of the landscape painter George Cole (1811-1883). He was first represented at the Royal Academy, London in 1853 and elected as an associate in 1870, becoming an Academician ten years later in 1880. Most of his inspiration came from the surrounding landscapes of Sussex and Surrey as well as along the banks of the Thames. His son Rex Vicat Cole (1870-1940) was also a painter.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Dreweatts offers online and traditional hammer picture sales throughout the year. Please contact a member of the Fine Art department if you would like more information about buying or selling at auction.
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To consign to a future auction or to arrange a free auction valuation, please email pictures@dreweatts.com or complete our free online valuation form here.
