PROPERTY FROM THE LOUIS J.C. TAN COLLECTION
David Cox, R.W.S.
THE PROMENADE AT ABERYSTWYTH, CARDIGANSHIRE, WALES
LOT SOLD.
21,250 GBP
Details & Cataloguing
Old Master & British Works on Paper
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London
London
David Cox, R.W.S.
BIRMINGHAM 1783 - 1859
THE PROMENADE AT ABERYSTWYTH, CARDIGANSHIRE, WALES
Watercolour over pencil, heightened with bodycolour (recto);
landscape pencil sketches, (verso)
186 by 262 mm.
Read Condition Report
Read Condition Report
landscape pencil sketches, (verso)
186 by 262 mm.
Provenance
Sale, London, Sotheby's, 9 April 1992, lot 52
Catalogue Note
This outstanding watercolour probably stems from sketches taken on David Cox's one recorded visit to Aberystwyth during the summer of 1820, when he was accompanied by friends from Hereford, Mr Bulmer and John and William Parker. According to Neil Solly, Cox's companions were 'more bent on amusement than art' and his sketches were slight so that few of them were worked up into finished drawings.1 Cox's only exhibited view of Aberystwyth did not appear until 1825, when he showed a watercolour of the Castle at the Society of Painters in Water Colours.
At the time of Cox's visit, Aberystwyth was a small town, with a medieval castle, a theatre, and newly opened Assembly Rooms. Its wealth derived principally from herring fishing and the export of lead.
The present watercolour shows the sweep of Aberystwyth Bay, lined with the Regency stucco boarding houses of Marine Terrace, taken from the point where a pier was built in the 1890s. In the distance rises the hill of Penglais, which today is crowned by the University of Aberystwyth and the National Library of Wales.
Cox's technique is remarkably confident in the present work. Rather than pencil, the point of the brush was actually more instrumental in its construction and the resulting impression is one of freshness and spontaneity.
1. N.N. Solly, Memoir of the Life of David Cox, London 1873, p. 43
Suggested Lots
Old Master & British Works on Paper
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London
London
