Lot 40: Thomas Uwins, R.A. (1782-1857)

Returning from School pencil and watercolour, heightened with touches of white and with gum arabic 111/4 x 81/2 in. (28.6 x 21.5 cm.) PROVENANCE The Haldimand Collection; Christie's, London, 18 March 1980, lot 282, when acquired by the present owner. LITERATURE J.L. Roget, A History of the 'Old Water-Colour' Society, 1891, vol. I, bk. VI, p.464, note. EXHIBITION London, Society of Painters in Water-Colours, 1811, no. 7. NOTES Uwins was elected a member of the Old Society of Painters in Water-Colours in June 1810, and he contributed no less than fifteen works to the exhibition held by the Society the following year, including the present example. Many of his subjects were Shakespearean, but he also drew inspiration from rural life, and the present watercolour was exhibited alongside other rustic scenes including Hertfordshire Children Going to the Plat School. In the present early watercolour, the boy in his drover's smock looks up to catch the viewer's eye, and the girl turns shyly away, clutching her schoolwork. There is a study for the boy in Uwins's sketchbook (private collection).