Lot 84: William Clerihew (b. 1840)

William Clerihew (b. 1840)
A sketchbook of forty-five drawings and watercolours from the artist's tour in 1851 of India, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Beirut, Israel, Cyprus and Greece
all inscribed and dated variously 21 March - 1 June 1851 and with inscription 'Sketch-book (III)./[one of three volumes]/Drawings by./William Clerihew/Amateur - exhibited at/Royal Academy/1840 & 1842.' (on a label attached to the inside front cover of the album)
eighteen pencil and watercolour heightened with touches of white, six pencil and watercolour, two pencil and grey wash heightened with touches of white, one pencil, pen and black ink, eighteen pencil, on tinted paper
10 5/8 x 7½ in. (27 x 19.1 cm.); and smaller; the album 12 5/8 x 10 5/8 in. (32.1 x 27 cm.) overall

Clerihew was a topographical landscape painter who travelled extensively in India, Ceylon and the Near East during the 1840s and 1850s. The present sketchbook provides a detailed insight into a tour he undertook between 21 March and 1 June 1851, beginning at Cape Comorin, the southernmost tip of India, and passing through Bombay, then onto Yemen, Egypt, Beirut, Israel, Cyprus and finishing on the island of Samos, Greece.