- 136
Francis Wheatley R.A.
Estimate
800 - 1,200 GBP
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Description
- Francis Wheatley R.A.
- Donnybrook Fair; a group of tents on a bare hillside with peasants gathered round the stalls, a family of gipsies resting in the foreground
- inscribed, verso: Sir J. Astley / drawing by Wheatley died / 1801 / 1(?)95
- watercolour over pencil, laid down onto original wash-line mount
- 38 by 55.5 cm.; 15 by 22 in.
Provenance
Sir Jacob Astley (1756-1817), 5th Bt.;
Catalogue Note
Donnybrook is situated a few miles to the west of Dublin, where Francis Wheatley lived between 1779 and 1783. Fascinated by the rustic life of gypsies, Wheatley appears to have executed at least three other versions of this particular subject. One was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1784 (no. 91), another, dated 1783, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (P.45-1923) and yet another is illustrated in Iolo Williams, Early English Watercolours, 1952, p. 186, pl. 285.