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Creator:
Peter DeWint, 1784–1849
Title:
Still Life: Pots, Basket and Cloth on a Chest
Date:
undated
Materials & Techniques:
Watercolor over graphite on moderately thick, rough, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 12 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches (31.1 x 24.1 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed on back in graphite lower right: "3140"

Collector's mark, verso: Paul Mellon

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.5248
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
baskets | ceramics, studio | chests | cloth | jars | jugs | pots | still life
Access:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:8519
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This watercolor is one of a number of still lifes painted by DeWint, although he exhibited none in his lifetime. On the testimony of one of his pupils, it seems DeWint used these still lifes for strictly pedagogic purposes, taking up whatever lay to hand to encourage his pupils to learn how to control chiaroscuro, ordering the compositions through careful control of light and shade. By allowing the brightness of the paper to shine through, he has captured the luster of the glazed pots and the shifting facets of the wickerwork basket. Although his still lifes were superficially distinct from his landscapes, the lessons DeWint learned from painting them were fundamental to his tonal approach to landscape painting.

Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (The State Hermitage Museum, 2007-10-23 - 2008-01-13) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2007-07-11 - 2007-09-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

English Romanticism (Center Gallery, Bucknell University, 1990-02-24 - 1990-04-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Jonathan Wordsworth, British romantic art, Center Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, 1990, p. 17, NX543 B74 1990 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Yale Center for British Art, Great British watercolors : from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, pp. 138-139, no. 60, ND1928 .Y35 2007 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]


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