James Webb

19th century English fishing boat with the tide out on a shore

circa 1870

This painting, titled On the Medway, is by George Stanfield Walters (1838–1924), a renowned British maritime artist celebrated for his atmospheric depictions of coastal and river sce...

English 19th century Victorian Sailing scene, with fishing vessels off of a landscape. Outstanding Victorian marine scene of a yacht at sail possible in the English Channel. Knell w...

Dutch Style scene of people on a frozen lake. Oils on canvas which has been laid down onto aboard. Framed in a Vintage American gold frame. Possibly an Italian painter working ...

A very pretty late 19th-century English marine scene of fishing boats beached after being out to sea and bringing in their catch for the day. This was a subject that was very popul...

**PLEASE NOTE: EACH PAINTING INCLUDING THE FRAME MEASURES 12 INCHES X 15 INCHES** Adolphus Knell British, (b.1849, fl.1870-1890) Shipping at Sunrise & Shipping at Sunset Oil on boar...

Provenance: Christie’s, London, 3 March 1922, lot 46 (with The Tower of Babel); James Nicoll Private Collection Sotheby’s, London, 29 March 1983, lot 157 Private Collection, New Yo...

Jane Maria Bowkett British, (1837-1891) Gathering Blackberries Oil on canvas, signed with monogram Image size: 22.75 inches x 34.75 inches Size including frame: 28.75 inches x 40.75...

This idyllic late 19th-century oil painting by English artist Edward William Cooke RA (1811-1880) depicts a west-country cove with two cottages, donkeys, figures, and fishing boats. Cooke was a highly renowned painter of marine scenes and landscapes who exhibited extensively at London’s Royal Academy. From our elevated vantage point, the view extends between two quaint cottages and across the beach before sweeping around the sandy coastline. Crystalline waters lap the shore, where moored craft rest. It’s an accomplished rendering of a challenging composition. It’s enhanced by trees, which essentially ‘frame’ the right side, while a wooded track provides interest on the left. Cooke was a keen admirer of the Dutch old masters, and the spirit of the Golden Age underpins this splendid work. In diaries, he recorded how he travelled by donkey to access elevated spots in the southwest, so it’s conceivable that he did so here. In his catalogue raisonné, it lists a work from the same year titled ‘Bay with Donkeys’. Born in Pentonville, London, Cooke was raised in the company of accomplished artists as both his father, George Cooke (1781-1834), and his uncle, William Bernard Cooke (1778-1855), were engravers. As such, they were associated with a circle of Victorian painters who aided Cooke’s early development. These included the highly regarded marine painter Clarkson Frederick Stanfield RA RBA (1793-1867), who provided frequent advice and inspiration. Indeed, as a teenager, Cooke produced numerous drawings after Stanfield’s works. A precocious talent, by the age of nine, he was already displaying an advanced understanding of engraving, particularly for ships, coupled with a natural, seemingly in-built skill as a draughtsman. Many of his early drawings depict pastoral landscapes after the masters, such as Nicolaes Berchem (1620-1683), Paulus Potter (1625-1654), and Karel Dujardin (1626-1678). In an extraordinary turn of events, in 1820, his advanced abilities led to his first commission when he provided botanical illustrations for John Loudon's 'Encyclopaedia of Plants’. These were followed by drawings published in the 'Botanical Cabinet...