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Dimensions: 13.8 by 24.3 cm.; 5 7/16 by 9 1/16 in.
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Provenance: Agnew's, London;
Sir Donald Currie Bt. (1825-1909);
Thence by descent
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Literature: To be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of the works of Richard Parkes Bonington, by Patrick Noon
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Notes: PROPERTY OF A LADY
This watercolour, previously titled Normandy Coast, has been identified by Patrick Noon as Cap Blanc Nez from Wissant, between Calais and Boulogne. Noon dates the watercolour to 1824, the year the young Bonington described as 'the happiest year of my life' (see Malcolm Cormack, Bonington, 1989, p.45). For most of the year he stayed in Dunkirk, for some of the time with his fellow artist Alexandre Marie Colin. They were tenants of Madame Perrier and her family with whom Bonington clearly became friends. He wrote on 3υrd December 1824 in a letter to Mme Perrier and her daughters, 'Mesdames, I may travel the world over, but I shall never have evenings like those at Dunkirk...' He was also industrious and small coastal views like this, whether in oil or watercolour, became a significant part of his oeuvre. Whilst he was not afraid to devote large portions of the paper to an extensive cloudy sky in order to bring to mind the fresh sea breezes, he also concentrated in his sketchbooks on the local fishermen and their clothing, their occupations and poses. He wrote in a letter to Colin on 5υth April 1824, 'many thanks for the trouble you have taken over my drawings, etc... I must not forget the fisherman's costumes.' Although in Dunkirk, he exhibited at the Paris Salon in August 1824. He showed four oils, A Study in Flanders and three seascapes (one subsequently identified by Noon as A fishmarket near Boulogne, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection), also at least one watercolour view of Abbeville, and a lithograph of Rouen: Rue de la Grosse Horloge. Other British artists exhibiting at the exhibition included Thomas Lawrence, John Constable and Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding. Both Constable, aged forty eight, and Bonington aged just twenty one, received a gold medal. Bonington received a mixed review from French critics, Auguste Jal acknowledging that this young man from England '....has generated a mania. For some time, the amateurs have sworn by him.' It is extraordinary that at such a young age, Bonington, from a foreign country, had already developed a considerable following and made sufficient impact to win a medal at the Salon. Sir Donald Currie who owned this watercolour and lot 203 was one of the most remarkable businessmen of his age. He dominated the international shipping trade, acquired extensive share holdings and managed three estates in Scotland. He was born in Greenock, the son of a barber from Belfast. On his death in 1909 he left an enormous fortune valued at £2.4 million
