Thomas Daniell R.A. (British 1749-1840)

Thomas Daniell (1749-1840) and his nephew, William (1769-1837), can be counted amongst the few great European artists to have visited India during the 18th and 19th centuries. Their seven year tour, from 1786 to 1793, played a vitally important role in documenting the country, offering an unrivalled view of the scenery and architecture of India for their European audience. We are pleased to be offering this landscape, The Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram by Thomas Daniell in our forthcoming auction.

As a panel-painting virtually unique in his reordered work, it was almost certainly painted in 1793 while the artist was at Madras. William Daniell published an engraving of the Shore Temple clearly taken from the same subject in Oriental Annual of 1834. The accompanying text mentions that the temple 'is of compact and beautiful stone-work, and stands upon a rock jutting from the land into the sea, it is a remnant, such at least in the oral tradition of the place, of an ancient city, which has been overthrown by the constantly encroaching waters, and of which this structure alone remains entire'.

Thomas Frye (Irish 1710-1762)

Here we have Portrait of a Lady by Thomas Frye (1710-1762). Frye was an Irish portrait painter who as a boy in Ireland was influenced by artists such as Rosalba Carrera. In 1735, he travelled to London with Herbert Stoppelaer (active 1730-1775) and studied under John Brooks of Battersea Enamel Factory. During his career Frye painted portraits of many members of London society including Jeremy Bentham (1760), and Henry Crispe of the Custom House (1746), as well as royalty, with his later portraits showing the influence of Hogarth, such as Frederick, Prince of Wales in Garter Robes (1741). 

The present lot was painted in 1755, a relatively late work for the artist. In 1744 Frye took out a patent for the manufacture of artificial soft-paste porcelain, which by 1749, had received the backing of the Peers family and was in full production at the Bow Porcelain Factory. By 1759 however, the prolonged exposure to the environment of the factory furnaces had taken its toll on Frye's health. He died of consumption in 1762.

Thomas Luny (British 1759-1837)

Another highlight is this maritime work H.M.S Bellerophon off Torbay with the defeated Emperor Napoleon aboard '26 July 1815' by British artist Thomas Luny. H.M.S Bellerophon is one of the most notorious ships in British history. She fought valiantly in the battle of Trafalgar under Captain John Cook, who died aboard during the battle. Nevertheless, Thomas Luny paints her in her most memorable action: the capture of Napoleon after the battle of Waterloo under the commandership of Captain Maitland. Here, Napoleon is being taken to Torbay, where he was held captive before being sent to Plymouth, from where conveyed to exile on the island of St. Elena. 

George Romney (British 1734-1802)

George Romney began his artistic career in the town of Kendal, in the north of England, and in 1757 established his first studio there. It was here that he received many of his earliest commissions. Among the early patrons of Romney were members of several branches of the Wilson family. The commissions executed by Romney for the Wilsons include a portrait of Colonel George Wilson of Abbot Hall leaning against a rock with three spaniels, one of Colonel Wilson's wife, one of his daughter, and a portrait of the Reverend Daniel and Mrs. Wilson. Several of these pictures remained in the Kendal Town Hall and at Dallam Tower into this century. Here we present this portrait of James Wilson. This work was given by descent from the sitter on 17 July 1764, to his daughter Eleanor Wilson, later Braithwaite, thence by descent in the Braithwaite family, to Brigadier General Wilson Garnett Braithwaite, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., of Camberley, England. Later it was purchased at auction by Historical Portraits Ltd, on behalf of the present owner.

Sir Thomas Lawrence P.R.A. (British 1769-1830)

We also want to take a look at this portrait of Elizabeth Williams of Gwersylt Park, Denbighshire by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Lawrence was the most fashionable and also the greatest portraitist of his generation, not only in Britain but also in Europe where tsars and popes sat for him. He was made Principal Painter to George III in 1792 after Sir Joshua Reynolds's death. After 1814 he received a slew of commissions by Prince Frederick's brother, George IV, culminating in The Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle. He was knighted in 1815.

Elizabeth Williams, a celebrated beauty, was also painted by Lawrence in a full-length portrait as St. Cecilia in 1803. She was the daughter of William Currie of Boughton Hall, near Chester and married John Williams of Gwersylt Park, near Wrexham in 1804. He was the son of Thomas Williams (1737-1802) who was one of the most successful and important industrialists in Wales in the 18^th century, becoming the richest man in Wales at the time of his death in 1802. He was described by Matthew Boulton as "the despotic sovereign of the copper trade". His portrait by Lawrence, painted in 1789, is in the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. 

George Owen Wynne Apperley (1884-1960)

The auction also features fourteen works from the studio of George Owen Wynne Apperley, which have never appeared at auction before. Arguably the most popular Anglo-Spanish artist of the early 20^th century, his studio buzzed with life as a constant stream of gypsy singers, dancers, guitarists and beggars came and went and it was this rich diversity that gave his paintings an authentic reflection of Granada and its people. He was feted by Spanish society and the visitors’ book for his studio is filled with the names of European royalty. 

Apperley was born in England and was of aristocratic Welsh stock. After studying at Hastings school of art he moved onto Herkomer School in Bushey, founded by the polymath artist Sir Hubert von Herkomer RA. In 1904 he travelled to Italy and in his own words `That visit awakened intense emotions whose effect was etched eternally on my soul… one could say my artistic education started seriously at that moment’. The plein air landscapes he painted impressed Herkomer who invited him to help with the backgrounds of his own paintings including Bullfighter that was exhibited at the Royal Academy. The following year Apperley had his first picture exhibited there too and would continue to do so for decades. The Mediterranean light of southern Europe characterised his work and led to many successful one-man exhibitions at London galleries including The Leicester Gallery in 1908 and 1910. He also exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, the Paris Salon (1913) and at the Venice Biennial in 1912 and 1914, where he was one of several artists representing Great Britain.

Having travelled to Spain in early 1914, he returned in March 1916. He bought two houses in Granada, the beguiling Moorish city where his artistic talents were to flourish in a thriving artistic community populated with native artists and other northern European artistic refugees. His landscapes, gypsies and mythological subjects proved to be very popular and by 1918 a large exhibition of his work in Madrid was visited by King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenia. Granada embraced him as one of their own and christened him`The Englishman from the Albaicin’. His work was widely reproduced, and he also continued to send pictures to London for exhibition and in1924 the Victoria and Albert Museum purchase his Cordobesa (Cordovan Woman).

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Auction Details

Wednesday 21 February, 10.30am GMT
Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

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