Lot 131: Captain Durrant (fl.1790-1830)

Captain Durrant (fl.1790-1830)
Seven English views including: Bo-Peep - near Hastings, a barrack for a Company of Soldiers (illustrated); The White Rock, near Hastings; Berwick Castle; Portchester Castle; Broadstairs, Kent; A windmill near Deal and Walmer Castle; and The Needle Rocks, Isle of Wight
the first inscribed 'Bo-Peep' (upper centre); the third inscribed 'Berwick Castle' (upper centre); the fifth inscribed 'Broad Stairs [sic] - Kent' (upper centre); and all inscribed with titles (on pages from the original album in which they were mounted)
pencil and watercolour, some with brown ink, on paper, unframed
7¼ x 8 7/8 in. (18.5 x 22.5 cm.); and smaller (7)

Thomas Lloyd, son of George Lloyd of Cowesby Hall, Northallerton and thence by descent.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 15 March 1990, lot 4, as 'An album of approx. 142 watercolours of Kent, Hampshire, Sussex, Isle of Wight, Wiltshire, Essex, Suffolk and Devon'.

CAPTAIN DURRANT (fl.1790-1830)
(Lots 131 - 134)

During the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815), the Royal Navy was capturing ships of the French Navy and its allies and bringing them home as prizes. The captive crews of these vessels were incarcerated in prison hulks, garrisons and castles and the men of the militia were called upon to guard them. One of these was Captain Durrant, who is thought to have been seconded from the West Yorkshire Reginment to the Leeds Volunteers, then under the command of Thomas Lloyd. Durrant, an accomplished artist, recorded in both pencil and watercolour, the places he visited whilst undertaking his duties, allowing a rare insight into the conditions of the time. These drawings then passed into the hands of his commandering officer whose family retained them until 1990.
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.