Lot 97: GEORGE HARVEY 1800-1878 FIGURES IN THE GARDEN OF BUCKSKIN HALL, CHALK LANE, COCKFOSTERS; A

GEORGE HARVEY 1800-1878 FIGURES IN THE GARDEN OF BUCKSKIN HALL, CHALK LANE, COCKFOSTERS; A CARRIAGE BY THE GATES OF EAGLE HALL, SOUTHGATE HIGH STREET

two, both signed, one l.c.: G.Harvey and the other l.l.: G Harvey and inscribed on part of an old label attached to the backboard: The Birth Place of LEIGH HUNT

watercolour over pencil, one heightened with touches of white

Quantity: 2

CATALOGUE NOTE

One of the watercolours included in the present lot depicts a carriage by the gates of Eagle Hall,Southgate High Street. The building was destroyed during World War II and replaced by the Southgate Reform Synagogue. Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) who was born there is commemorated nearby in Leigh Hunt Drive next to Southgate College.

The house and garden depicted in the other watercolour is most likely part of the Dacre Lodge Estate in Cockfosters. It was formerly known as Buckskin Hall and destroyed by fire in 1895. It was rebuilt, but later demolished in 1971. The church to the rear is Christ Church prior to its enlargement in 1898 and the view has been taken from the west side of Chalk Lane, looking south.

George Harvey was born in Tottenham and trained in England. He travelled to New York in 1820 and spent the next thirty years in America, except for a few trips back to England and the Continent. During his time in America he became an Associate of the National Academy of Design and enjoyed the patronage of the eminent collector, Moses Grinnell. He also became a close friend of Washingon Irving and helped to design Sunnyside, Irving's Tarrytown residence. He drew and painted landscapes in Ohio, Michigan, on the Eerie Canal, in Canada, at Newport and in other places from Maine to Virginia. In the 1830's he built a home near Hastings-on-Hudson and began a long pictorial study of the weather and seasonal changes in the Hudson River valley. He finally sold the property in 1846 and little is known about the artists life after 1850, although his letters after that date were all written from London.

one 23.5 by 40 cm., 9 by 15 3/4 in., the other 26 by 37.5 cm., 10 1/4 by 14 3/4 in.