Hurlingham Fine Arts

Description

This pencil sketch of Normandy fisherfolk and sailing boats is attributed to Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828). The drawing is stamped with the collector's mark of the artist John Lewis Brown (1829-1890), nephew of the Bordeaux wine merchant and diplomat, Lewis Brown (d.1836), an avid collector of Bonington drawings and watercolours during the artist's lifetime.
On the reverse it is inscribed in ink, Ferdinand Pickering. This may be a reference to the artist and illustrator Ferdinand Pickering (1811-1882) who provided 10 designs for the Bentley Standard Novels of Jane Austen of 1833. A pen, brush and ink drawing, 'Anne Page and Slender', an illustration drawn by Bonington for the Merry Wives of Windsor was bought by a 'Pickering' in the Bonington sale of 1834.

Although the sketch is finely drawn and bears some resemblance to Bonington's Dunkerque studies of 1824 it has not been possible to make a connection between Pickering and the Lewis Brown collection so we can only attribute this drawing to Bonington.

Pencil on buff paper, sight size 4.5 x 6 inches.
Condition: some discolouration and thinning of paper, light scuff marks and paper break righthand side as shown in our detail images.