Lot 1186: John Claude Nattes (? London 1765-1822 Dover)

John Claude Nattes (? London 1765-1822 Dover)
Lago Maggiore on the road from Geneva to Lyon, Italy
signed, inscribed and dated 'A view of Lake Major [sic], on the Road from Geneva to Lyons./C. Nattes. 1783.' (on the artist's original mount)
pencil, grey and blue wash
11 5/8 x 18 3/8 in. (29.5 x 46.6 cm.)

Anonymous sale; Christie's, South Kensington, 10 April 1991, lot 85.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Olympia, 20 April 2004, lot 131.

A founding member of the Society of Painters in Watercolours, John Claude Nattes first developed his interest in illustrating landscape when Sir Joseph Banks commissioned him to record the buildings of Lincolnshire in 1789, which now provides researchers with useful information regarding pre-Victorian topography. Little is known about his travels on the continent but there are topographical views by him of France in Parisian institutions such as View of the Pont du Chatelet and Notre-Dame Cathedral (1810) at the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, and The College de Navarre in Paris in the Museé de la Ville de Paris. In London he exhibited at the Royal Academy until 1814, and examples of his work can be found in the Royal Collection and at Tate Britain.