Richard Ball Spencer

Richard Ball Spencer, The Brig ‘Era’ Off Dover

c. 1850

This splendid mid-19th-century oil painting by English artists William Shayer (1787-1879) and Edward Charles Williams (1807-1881) depicts an assortment of travellers outside a roadsi...

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...

This late 19th-century oil painting by British painter George William Mote (1832-1909) depicts a shepherd and his flock before an extensive view across the Surrey countryside near Gu...

This early 20th-century oil painting by British artist David Bates (1840-1921) depicts a rural view in Capel Curig, North Wales. Bates was an accomplished landscape painter who often...

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...

Adolf Schreyer's "Arabian Rider at Dusk" is a stunning oil painting on canvas that depicts an Arabian rider in a golden sunset. By Adolf Schreyer 8.5" x 15.5" Oil on Canvas Framed...

A very tranquil scene of fishing boats moored in harbour with a sunlit sea beyond. Painted with a most attractive palette of blues and greens and with a pleasing composition that le...

Reuben Hunt British, (1857-1938) Taking Aim Oil on canvas, signed & dated (18)84 Image size: 19.5 inches x 29.5 inches Size including frame: 25.25 inches ...