Signed lower right: S.H Grimm fecit/1772
Pen and grey ink and watercolour on
laid paper, with original pen and ink border, oval
23.8 by 31.2cm., 9 by 12 inches
Provenance:
James Tobin
until 1818;
Sir John
Fitzherbert, Bt.;
C.M.
Harmsworth, 1961;
With Appleby
Bros., London, 1973;
Anonymous
sale, Christie?s, 18th March 1980, lot 34
Exhibited:
London,
Walker?s Galleries, 29th
Annual Exhibition of Early English Watercolours, 1933, no.71
This drawing was part of an album of
sixteen drawings by Grimm sold by James Tobin?s estate in 1818 described as `a
volume containing a beautiful collection of Tinted Drawings by Grimm, very
highly finished. A set of 16 after nature.? Tobin was a West India merchant and
planter from Bristol. The pair to this watercolour, also dated 1772, is
illustrated in R.M. Clay, Samuel Hieronymous
Grimm of Burgdorf in Switzerland, 1961, pl.39 and was sold by Guy Peppiatt
Fine Art in 2009.
Signed lower centre: S.H. Grimm
fecit 1771
Pen and grey ink and watercolour heightened with bodycolour on laid paper
with pen and ink border
198 x 263 mm., 7 ¾ x 10 ¼ in.
Provenance
Lord Brownlow
Anonymous sale, Christie's, 20th November 1984, lot 85
With Spink
& Son (K3 8721)
Signed lower right: S.H. Grimm fecit 178.
Pen and brown ink and watercolour heightened with bodycolour on laid paper watermarked with a fleur de lys
37.5 by 52cm., 14 by 20 ? inches
Barlborough Hall near Chesterfield was the home of Grimm's friend and patron Cornelius Heathcote Rodes (1755-1825) (see Rotha Mary Clay, Samuel Hieronymous Grimm, 1941, p.80-83). They knew each other from at least 1773 and the present watercolour may date from the summer of 1785 when Grimm spent several months at Barlborough. The figure in this watercolour is likely to be Cornelius Rodes as he was `famed for his breed of greyhounds.' The house was built in 1583 by Francis Rodes and is now a prep school.
Provenance:
Locker Lampson, by descent to Mrs Godfrey Fawcett;
With Appleby Bros., London, 1964
Signed
lower left: S.H. Grimm fecit 1777
Pen
and black ink and watercolour over traces of pencil on laid Whatman paper with
pen and ink border
Sheet
20.3 by 27.7 cm., 8 by 10 ? inches
Provenance:
J.
Collingwood Stewart, Newcastle;
A
Deceased Estate
Literature:
Mary
Rotha Clay, Samuel Hieronymous Grimm,
1941, p.76, ill. p. 85
Engraved:
By
W. Walker and W. Angus, 1780, with minor differences
This
view of the Caernarvon Castle is taken
from the far bank of the River Seiont on which the castle is situated,
overlooking the Menai Straits. It shows
the Eagle Tower, the grandest of the castle's towers, in the western
corner.
Inscribed lower right: à Montmorenci and numbered 55 lower right
Pen and grey ink and watercolour heightened with bodycolour on laid paper
23.8 by 18.3 cm., 9 ¼ by 7 in.
This originates from an album mainly of French views drawn between 1765 and 1768.
Inscribed upper centre: Caernarvon Castle and
signed and inscribed verso: A view of Caernarvon Castle taken on the spot by
S.H. Grimm. 1777 - NB this drawing was taken in very thick cloudy weather, in
clear weather/there are many more Mountains, wich show themselves in the
distance, wich were envelloped in Cloud and Fog.
Pen and grey ink and grey washes on laid
paper watermarked GR with a Strasburg Lily
29.4 by 47.8 cm., 11 ¼ by 18 ¾ in.
Provenance:
James Tobin, 1818;
Sir John Fitzherbert, 8th Bt. (1913-1989);
Walter Brandt (1902-1978);
By descent
until 2019
This important
watercolour dates from Grimm’s tour of Wales in the summer of 1777 with his
patron Henry Penruddocke Wyndham (1736-1819). Few tourists or artists visited
Wales before the 1770s as it was considered a wild and inhospitable place.
However after Paul Sandby’s tour with Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn in 1771 (see
no.4) and Thomas Pennant’s in the company of his artist Moses Griffith two
years later amongst others, the resulting accounts and engravings led to a
change in attitude. Wyndham and Grimm set out in June 1777 and spent three
months travelling the country. They started in Bristol and worked their way
along the south coast of Wales to Pembrokeshire before continuing north via
Cilgarren ending in Caernarvon. After crossing to Anglesey, they continued
south-east to Llangollen then south to Llanthony and Monmouth before recrossing
the Severn into England.
This view of
Caernarvon Castle across the river Seint was considered one of the most
Romantic in Britain and was drawn by numerous artists (see no.4 for Sandby’s
version). A smaller studio version, also dated 1777, was with Guy Peppiatt Fine
Art in 2012 (see Guy Peppiatt, British Drawings and Watercolours, summer
catalogue, 2012, no.7) and a larger version is in the National Museum of Wales
(see William Hauptman, Samuel Hieronymous Grimm, A Very English Swiss,
exhibition catalogue, 2014, no.57, p.159, ill. p.160). This on-the-spot sketch
is the basis for an engraving of this view published on 1st January
1780.
Signed lower right: S.H Grimm fecit 1772
pen and grey ink and watercolour on laid paper, with original pen and ink border, oval
23.8 by 31.2cm., 9 1/4 by 12 1/2 inches
Provenance:
James Tobin until 1818;
Sir John Fitzherbert, Bt.;
C.M. Harmsworth, 1961;
With Appleby Bros.,
Anonymous sale, Christie?s, 18th March 1980, lot 34
Literature:
R.M. Clay, Samuel Hieronymous Grimm of Burgdorf in Switzerland, 1961, pl.39
Exhibited:
This drawing was part of an album of sixteen drawings by Grimm sold by James Tobin?s estate in 1818 described as `a volume containing a beautiful collection of Tinted Drawings by Grimm, very highly finished. A set of 16 after nature.? Tobin was a West Indies merchant and planter from
Pen and grey ink and watercolour heightened with bodycolour on laid paper with pen and ink border
15.0 by 20.6 cm., 5 ¾ by 8 in.
Provenance:
Private Collection until 2014
Literature:
Grimm was born in Bergdorf, Switzerland and moved to Paris in 1765 before relocating to London in the spring of 1768 where he remained for the rest of his life. In the first years of his life in London, he produced a number of views on the Thames and its environs.
This is a view looking north from near Barnes Terrace towards Chiswick with the church of St Nicholas visible in the distance. A drawing of the same size `Between Chiswick and Brentford, by the Thames’, also dated 1774, was in the collection of L.G. Duke (see Mary Rotha Clay, Samuel Hieronymous Grimm, 1941, pl. 61 between pp.56 and 57) as was a slightly larger drawing `Boys Bathing at Barnes’ (op. cit.). A sketchbook in the British Museum (1919.7.12.25) includes views of Brentford, Barnes, Fulham and Kew and Grimm also drew a number of views at Mortlake (‘Mortlake Fair’ was sold at Christie’s on 10th July 2012, lot 54).