24/07/2022
Sawrey Gilpin R.A. A study of Swans guarding their nest. Pen ink and watercolour drawing with ruled black chalk border, on laid paper with crowned GR watermark. Numbered 309 lower right. 19.6 x 32 cm Provenance: Ex. Sir John Witt Collection.
Sawrey Gilpin (1733–1807) was a successful 18th.Century English animal painter, illustrator, and etcher who specialised in paintings of horses, dogs and wildlife. The Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, hold two watercolours by Gilpin that appear to have a similar numbering system to the present work, presumably from an album or collection of works intended to have been engraved. Morris Brownell's article in The Walpole Society journal, where the present work is illustrated, suggests that it depicts a 'nesting female on an osier isle protected by her threatening mate', and relates the scene to a humorous anecdote on swan behaviour from William Gilpin's 1764 Thames Tour. Available for purchase via Website or DM for further details. #
