Lot 206: READ (DAVID CHARLES)

Papers, etchings and watercolours of Salisbury etcher and landscape artist D.C. Read, comprising a series of nearly eighty long letters addressed to him by his chief patron, Chambers Hall, between 1824 and 1842, almost entirely devoted to their mutual passion for art and discussing fellow artists, such as Linnell, the art of exhibitions, etching, picture sales, etc., with detailed critiques of individual works by Read (noted by the appreciative artist at the head of each letter), as well as a draft for a notice in the Athenaeum, etc.; plus over sixty incoming letters by fellow artists, collectors and others, including George Combe, C.W. Dilke, Thomas Wright (dedicatee of his 1829 etchings) and his erstwhile fellow Sarumite Augustus Welby Pugin (two letters); with letter to him by his sons and other family letters; a contract purchasing the goodwill of his teaching practice as a drawing master at Salisbury, 1844, etc.; with four framed watercolours, a portfolio of his etchings as published by him, Salisbury 1829, another with some prints extracted for distribution, and a portfolio of loose watercolours and etchings

A MAJOR ARCHIVE OF POSSIBLY THE FINEST ETCHER IN ENGLAND OF THE SECOND QUARTER OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, one revealing a Romantic sensibility reminiscent of his contemporary John Linnell – who painted his portrait – and of Samuel Palmer himself; the most remarkable tribute paid him coming from no less a figure than Goethe who wrote a long letter of praise to Byron's publisher John Murray, who then wrote to Read: "Though personally unknown to you I hope that my motive for addressing you will serve as my excuse for writing to a stranger. A few days ago I received a letter from Göthe the celebrated German Poet of Weimar, in the course of it, he mentions with very clear approbation some etchings by D.C. Read of Salisbury – as the praise of so great a man a man cannot fail of affording you gratification I will transcribe the passage" (see Murray's letter in the present archive).

David Charles Read (1790-1851) was born in Hampshire and apprenticed to the engraver John Scott; living in Salisbury for most of his life. He was a friend of Goethe and etched his portrait; and his work was admired by Mendelssohn. The majority of his works depicted the Avon Valley outside Salisbury and the New Forrest. Originally a protégé of John Constable, their relationship soured after Read began to show his oil paintings in London; and it is perhaps it is for this reason that Read turned his attention from painting to etching in the mid 1820's. Read printed his etchings and drypoints in small groups between 1828 and 1845. Two volumes of proof were presented to the British Museum by the artist as a reference collection of his work. For further information, see the notice by Campbell Dodgson in the DNB, revised by Greg Smith for the ODNB, and the Sanders of Oxford website.

This archive contains not only works that were evidently remaining with Read at his death, but seemingly the bulk, if not totality, of his remaining archive; distinguished chiefly by the long series of letters by his lading patron, Chambers Hall. The archive passed to his son R. W. Read on his death, who was responsible for the catalogue of his etchings in the British Museum and has inscribed his etched portrait: "Very like him when young. R.W.R."