Lot 192: JOHN SCARLETT DAVIS 1804-1844

VIEWS OF THE RUE ST JACQUES, PARIS AND THE OLD FOUNTAIN OF ST SEVERIN, PARIS

measurements note
one 23.5 by 17.5 cm., 9 1/4 by 7 in., another 24 by 17 cm., 9 1/2 by 6 1/2 in., the other 24 by 18 cm., 9 1/2 by 7 in

two, the drawing signed l.r.: Scarlett Davis/1831, the watercolour inscribed l.l.: see Holland 1831, both further inscribed variously

one pencil and the other watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour and scratching out

with a view of Rue St Jacques, Paris by James Holland (1800-1870)
signed l.r.: J Holland 1831 and inscribed variously
watercolour over pencil heightened with touches of bodycolour and gum arabic

Quantity: 3

PROVENANCE

Mrs G.P. St. George (Holland watercolour);
Sir Bruce Ingram (L.1405a), (Holland watercolour)

EXHIBITED

Paris, Musee Carnavalet, Paris Romantique, 1957 (Scarlett Davis watercolour & Holland watercolour);
Winchester College, June 1963 (Scarlett Davis watercolour);
London, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., English Drawings and Watercolours in memory of the late D.C.T.Baskett, July - August 1963 (Scarlett Davis watercolour);
Hanley, City Museum and Art Gallery, Holland Centenary Exhibition, 1970 (Holland watercolour);
London, Albany Gallery, London to Paris 1820-1845, 16th November - 1st December 1972, nos.20, 29 (Scarlett Davis watercolour & Holland watercolour);
Nottingham, University Art Gallery and London, Thos.Agnew and Sons Ltd., Thomas Shotter Boys 1803-1874 Centenary Exhibition, 4th October - 6th December 1974, nos.147,151 (Scarlett Davis watercolour & Holland watercolour);
Ludlow Festival, 1983 (Scarlett Davis drawing, watercolour & Holland watercolour);
Stoke-on-Trent, James Holland, September - November 1999 (Holland watercolour)

LITERATURE

Steve Bond, James Holland the forgotten artist, 1999, p.26, ill. (Holland watercolour)

NOTE

John Scarlett Davis was in Paris from July 1830 until about the end of 1831. His move to the continent had been financed by Lord Farnborough who had commissioned him to paint a group of pictures of the city. During this time he stayed at the Hotel de la Cote D'Or, drawing and painting many church interiors, street scenes and making studies after Titian, Velasquez, Watteau, van Dyck and other artists at the Louvre.

In the summer of 1831 James Holland was also in Paris, the only time that he and Davis were together on the Continent. Both artists were strongly influenced by the work of Bonington, who had died in 1828. The fact that Davis and Holland spent time sketching together is born out by the watercolours and the drawing included in the present lot. Davis' signed and dated pencil drawing of the Rue St Jacques was clearly made on the spot. His watercolour of the same subject is carefully inscribed in the lower left corner with the words 'see Holland 1831' and is so close to Holland's watercolour to suggest that they may have drawn these views side by side.

A pencil, grey and blue wash drawing by John Scarlett Davis of the Rue St Jacques, slightly smaller in size than the two works by him included in the present lot, was sold at Christie's on 13th December 1979, lot 33