Thomas Roberts

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 23 March 1928, lot 133, to Bell for £9.9 (as G. Barret and S. Gilpin, 'A View in County Wicklow, with a bridge over a torrent').

The canvas has been lined. The painting appears to be in good 'country house' condition, with no apparent extant damage of loss of paint. There is a discoloured old varnish overall which is very yellowed, and there is an area of old retouching in the background, in the upper right corner. This retouching is likely to be excessive, and probably covers a minor old damage. The paint is a little rubbed in places, but considering the artist's working method, appears to be in generally good condition, especially in the detail and the highlights, as well as in the sky. Examination under ultraviolet light confirms the age and opacity of the varnish, but shows no signs of recent retouching or restoration. The retouching previously mentioned in the upper left does not fluoresce under UV, indicating that it is of some age, and the paint would appear to be in very good overall condition. Held in a gilded wooden frame with floral decorative motifs in the corners and central sections. To speak to a specialist about this lot please contact Julian Gascoigne on +44 (0)207 293 5482, or at julian.gascoigne@sothebys.com.
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Previously unrecorded the present work is an exciting addition to the oeuvre of one of the most talented and important eighteenth century Irish landscape painters. Stylistically the work belongs to a group of highly impressive, large scale paintings on the theme of a Landstorm with Travellers by Roberts painted circa 1774-5. The theme appears in two paintings commissioned by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn (1749-1789) for his recently built London mansion at number 20 St James's Square, designed by Robert Adam, and one of the grandest houses in London. A precise terminus ante quem for those paintings is provided by a record of the full and final payment of £53 10s to 'Mr Roberts of Dublin' on 3 April 1775 in the accounts ledger for the building and furnishing of St James Square among the Wynnstay Manuscripts (National Library of Wales).¹ Eighteenth century noblemen were not known for their prompt payment and it is likely that the pictures were largely painted in the course of 1774, and possibly installed at St James's Square in early 1775, in which year Roberts is recorded in London at the time of the annual Royal Academy exhibition. Other works from this series include A Windstorm, a wooded rocky landscape with cascade and travellers on bridge, dated 1774, also commissioned by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn (Private Collection), and A Landstorm, with travellers on a road to the left, which was painted in Ireland and signed and dated 1775 (sold in these Rooms, 4 December 2008, lot 42, for £220,000). In all these works there is a grandeur of conception and an orchestrated feeling of control which leaves the viewer with the impression that the artist relished his command over the elements.

Another version of this composition is at Fota House, County Cork, Ireland (The McCarthy Family and the Irish Heritage Trust).


1. W. Laffan and B. Rooney, Thomas Roberts. Landscape and Patronage in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, Tralee 2009, p. 248.