Dominic Serres, 1722–1793, French, active in Britain (from the 1750s)
Title:
Saint Vincents, near West Malling, Kent
Date:
ca. 1779
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
12 1/2 x 18 inches (31.8 x 45.7 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed on handwritten label written in ink on back of painting: “This view of St. Vincents my grandfathers place in Kent | was given to me by H. G. Hewlett, he bought it at the Sale of Mr. Wingfield Stratfords pictures etc. at Addington. I think | it is probable that my grandfather gave it to the Stratford | of his day. It is evidently painted by Dom: Serres, whom | my grandfather knew. & feel sure that the figures there | represented are my grandfather & his family. I think he may | have sold St. Vincents when he went to Greenwich Hospital”
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.566
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
cattle | livestock | grazing | landscape | view | dwelling | kitchen garden | country house | fence | garden | lawn | hedges | pediment | pastures | hills | trees | family | woman | men | gravel | field | children
Associated Places:
Addington | Kent | West Malling | United Kingdom | England
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
Spreading Canvas - Eighteenth - Century British Marine Painting (Yale Center for British Art, 2016-09-09 - 2016-12-04)50th Anniversary Exhibition (Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, 2001-09-01 - 2002-05-31)Country Houses in Great Britain - Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 1979-10-10 - 1980-01-29)
Publications:
Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 200-201, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA)Country houses in Great Britain., Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1979, pp. 47-48, 113, no. 25, pl. 25, N6764 Y34 1979 (YCBA)John Harris, The artist and the country house, a history of country house and garden view painting in Britain, 1540-1870 , Sotheby Parke Bernet, London Totowa, N.J., 1979, pp. 252, 281, no. 305, fig. 305, N6764 H36 + (YCBA)Eleanor Hughes, Spreading Canvas : Eighteenth-Century British Marine Painting, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2016, p. 248-249, cat. 110, ND 1373.G74 S67 2016 (YCBA)
Provenance:
Commissioned by William Locker (1731-1800) from the artist, Dominic Serres (1722-1793); acquired by Col. John Wingfield-Stratford (1772-1850) of Addington Place, Kent [a]; by descent to his son, John Wingfield-Stratford (1810-1881) of Addington Place, Kent; by descent to his son, Edward John Wingfield (1849-1903) of Addington Place, Kent; purchased by Henry Gay Hewlett (1832-1897) of Shaw Hall, Addington [b]; by whom given to an unnamed grandchild of William Locker [c];…; bought by Paul Mellon (1907-1999) through Colnaghi, Christie’s, London, April 17, 1964 (lot 84, “Saint Vincent, Kent, The Seat of Captain William Locker, with Figures Outside the Front Door and Cattle in a Park in the Foreground”) [d]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, 1981 [e] Citations: --- [a] As per information on label on verso early twentieth century. [b] As per information on label on verso early twentieth century. Possibly acquired in 1887 when Edward John Wingfield sold Addington Place. [c] As per information on label on verso [d] Christie, Manson & Woods. April 17, 1964. Important English Drawings and Pictures c. 1650-c. 1900 [e] Country Houses in Great Britain, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1979, no. 25, pp. 47-48.