Sir Edward John Poynter, Bt., P.R.A., R.W.S.

signed with monogram l.r., dated 1866 and titled 

Chris Beetles, London, March 2002

The sheet appears to be sound and the work in very good overall condition. Held under glass in a gilt wood frame with cream mount; unexamined out of frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Poynter had a ‘profound and thorough knowledge of nature’ (Christopher Wood, Olympian Dreamers, Constable, London, 1983, p.149) of which this picture is a fine example. In this atmospheric and dramatic seascape, a small boat can be seen dwarfed by a vast expanse of sea, looming cliffs and a curtain of rain which is sweeping across the picture.

In the left hand corner of the work, the small patch of green grass when contrasted with the stark and gloomy rocky faces of the hills in the background, gives off the impression of relative shelter. Yet the waves, which are building up momentum against the shore in the foreground, and the driving rain, suggest an imminently approaching storm. The foreboding hills on the left of the picture, covered by a layer of threatening dark cloud and rain, contrast vividly with the sunlight, piercing through the abating clouds in the distance where the storm has allayed.

Poynter’s interest in the Devonshire coast is confirmed by another of his watercolours; Castle Rock, Lynton, Devon (sold Sotheby's, 'The Ingram Collection', 8 December 2005, lot 247) which was painted in the adjacent town to Lynmouth in the same year as the present picture. Lynton and its surrounding scenery were becoming increasingly popular as beauty spots in the mid nineteenth century and the area was frequented by many artists at the time. It is likely that Poynter drew Cast Rock on the spot, whilst the present painting, because of the imminently approaching storm, would have been predominantly painted in the artist’s studio. Charles Gleyre (1806-74) whose atelier in Paris Poynter spent three years (1856-59), taught the need for preliminary working drawings, strongly advocated the development of drawing from memory, and stressed the importance of personal expression in a composition, all of which are exemplified in this picture.

The son of an architect, Edward Poynter was educated and trained in England, travelling to Italy where he befriended and was deeply influenced by the painter Frederick Leighton (1830-96) whom he described as '…the friend and master who first directed my ambition, and whose precepts I never fair to recall when at work' (William Gaunt, Victorian Olympus, Jonathan Cape, London 1952, p.51).

Poynter held a number of official posts: from 1871-1875 he was a Slade Professor at the University College London. He left the Slade for the Directorship of the National Art Training Schools at South Kensington which he resigned from in 1881. From 1894 until 1906 he was Director of the National Gallery, whilst simultaneously from 1896, acting as President of the Royal Academy.

After spending three years in Paris, Poynter returned to the England in 1859 where his association with Edward Burne-Jones began. Poynter was one of the founding members of the Dudley Gallery and he exhibited four Pre-Raphaelite landscapes of the 1860s at its General Exhibition of Watercolour Drawings at the Egyptian Hall. Agnes Macdonald, who was to become Poynter’s wife in 1866, visited the exhibition with her sister, Georgiana Burne-Jones, and said of her future husband’s works: ‘two figures scenes of Poynter’s, and four landscapes: these latter are considered simple perfection. Ned [Burne-Jones] says no landscapes since the Turner ones are so good.’ (Allen Staley and Christopher Newall, Pre-Raphaelite Vision Truth to Nature, 2004, p.232)