Lot 121: DAVID ALLAN 1744-1796

AN ALBUM OF FIGURE STUDIES

AN ALBUM OF FIGURE STUDIES

measurements note
album sheet measures 33.5 by 25 cm.,13 1/4 by 10 in.

including girls of Procida Island near Naples, a weary pilgrim, Rome, a spinner - Procida, Italian fishermen, a girl and child of Procida, a lemon seller, Naples, a Florentine shepherd boy, a Florentine shepherdess, a girl from the Alps, an ancient game called Micare digitis, a milk man - Rome, a fishmonger - Rome, a lady of Smyrna, an old man - Procita, a thief - Naples, a Swiss Guard of the Pope, a Neopolitan family; feeding the cats and drawing water in Rome, girls of Parma; a young girl - Procita, a seaman of Procita, strolling musicians - Rome, couriers, a thief catcher - Rome, a thief taker -Venice, a girl of Fraschale, Florentine travelers, a porter - Edinburgh, an oyster wench, a fireman, a chair man, a clapper man, a salt wife, coal men, a town officer and other subjects

forty-four, one dated 1794, mostly numbered and inscribed with titles

forty-three pen and grey ink with watercolour over pencil and one pen and grey ink with grey wash over pencil, bound between early nineteenth century morocco over cloth covered boards, the spine gilt in compartments, inscribed on the front free endpaper: Portrait Drawings by David Allan/1744-1796

NOTE

(an album)

The Scottish born artist David Allan is known for his genre scenes and is often referred to as the 'Scottish Hogarth'. He visited Rome in the autumn of 1764 and spent most of the following thirteen years in Italy. He travelled to the islands of Procida and Ischia, off Naples, and was particularly impressed by the simple way of life he discovered there. This, together with the colourful costumes of the local people, provided him with ample inspiration for his drawings.

Later, encouraged by the demand for his works and possibly with a mind to producing aquatints for publication, he returned again to the same subjects. In 1777 he exhibited four oil paintings of Italian subjects at the Royal Academy.

There are similar figures studies by Allan in the National Gallery of Scotland and formerly at Dunimarle House. A further album entitled 'A Collection of Italian and French Dress drawn from nature by D. Allan painter, 1788' is in the New York Public Library