Lot 161: MICHAEL ANGELO ROOKER (1743-1801) The ruins of an abbey, signed, watercol

MICHAEL ANGELO ROOKER (1743-1801) The ruins of an abbey, signed, watercolour, 31 x 26.5cm Prov. With John Baskett, 173 New Bond Street, London

A fine collection of etchings, drawings and watercolours until recently on loan to the Ashmolean Museum: This intriguing collection of etchings, drawings and watercolours was gathered together by Jean and Bill Beale. They lived beside the Thames at Chelsea in London through the nineteen sixties and seventies while Bill worked in the Foreign Office. A birthday or a wedding anniversary meant a joyful trip to a central London art dealer to look, reflect and then purchase a drawing or watercolour. Many were bought from New Bond Street art galleries like Colnaghi's, John Baskett and Richard Day, the renowned central London fine art specialists of this period. This can be seen on the backing to the frames. In later life the Beales moved to a village in Oxfordshire. The subject matter of their pictures reflected their interest in rural England, the Thames and the highest standard of British and European drawing and watercolour painting. In the 1990's the collection was placed on loan to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, which has conserved their fine condition that makes them such a pleasure to look at today. All but two are unframed but professionally re-mounted to museum specification, however the frames with their labels have been preserved and are sold in their respective lots