Richard Parkes Bonington

Probably Paul Périer (1809-1849);
his sale, Paris, 19 December 1846, lot 47;
with Paterson Gallery, London, 1913;
from whom acquired by W.C. Alexander (1840-1916);
by family descent to the present owner

London, Paterson’s Gallery, Loan Exhibition of Pictures and Drawings, 1913, unnumbered;
New Haven, Yale Centre for British Art and Paris, Le Petit Palais, Richard Parkes Bonington ‘On the Pleasure of Painting,’ 1991-1992, no. 107

A. Dubuisson and C.E. Hughes, Richard Parkes Bonington: His Life and Work, London 1924, p. 165;
P. Noon, Richard Parkes Bonington, The Complete Paintings, Yale 2008, p. 394, no. 361

This jewel-like watercolor, which has been dated to circa 1826, is a particularly radiant example of Bonington’s figure painting – a genre that greatly interested him during the last years of his short life. Inspired by Dutch 17^th century painting, Bonington has created an atmospheric interior of deep shadows, half-lights and, in places, intense luminosity.

The work is a preparatory sketch for a now lost watercolor which was engraved, under the title The Grandmother, in 1833.  The identity of the three figures is unknown, however they each re-appear in other works by Bonington. The children can be found in the lithograph Les Plaisirs Paternels,¹ while the old lady is included in his watercolor The Use of Tears.² 

Finally, the watercolor has a distinguished provenance. In circa 1913, it was acquired by William Alexander, a successful banker who commissioned Whistler to paint his daughter³ and whose collection of Japanese lacquer-work and porcelain was much celebrated. The work has remained in his descendant's possession until this day.

1. M. Spencer, R.P. Bonington 1802-1828, 1965, p. 121

2. Louvre, Paris

3. 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander', James Abbott McNeill Whistler (Tate, Britain)