Lot 362
CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH (1868-1928) ‡
ROME, ARCH OF TITUS
Auction: Design Since 1860 Day Two | Thurs 15th October | Lots 246 to 524
Description
watercolour and pencil, initialled CRM and dated 1891 lower left
Dimensions
24.1cm x 31.8cm (frame size 42.3cm x 42.3cm)
Provenance
Dr. Thomas Howarth
Christie's London, The Dr. Thomas Howard Collection, Important Works by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Margaret and Frances Macdonald and Herbert MacNair, February 17, 1994, lot 17
Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, Greenwich, Connecticut
Sotheby's, New York, Important Design: Jacqueline Fowler Collection, 24th May 2018, lot 401
Private Collection
Footnote
Exhibited: Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928), Memorial Exhibition, November 18-December 31, 1978, no. 25
Literature: Billcliffe R. Mackintosh Watercolours, John Murray 1978, p. catalogue no. 17 illus.
Macaulay J. Charles Rennie Mackintosh, WW Norton 2010, p. 91
Billcliffe R. Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Art of the Four, Quatro 2017, p. 21, no. 14 illus.
Rawson G. Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Italy, Stenlake Publishing 2020, p. 34, no. 30 illus.
In 1890, Charles Rennie Mackintosh won the Alexander Thomson Memorial Travelling Studentship, awarded to young British architects ‘of approved moral character’. Entries had to reflect Alexander 'Greek' Thomson's interest in Ancient Classic Architecture as practised ‘prior to the commencement of the Third Century of the Christian Era'. Mackintosh’s winning proposal for a public hall combined Beaux-Arts planning with Greek architectural details, earning him £60 to fund a three-month study tour. In 1891, he travelled to Italy, documenting its architecture and art in diaries and sketchbooks before presenting his observations to the Thomson Trustees and the Glasgow Architectural Association. His drawings ranged from precise architectural studies to expressive watercolours, revealing both analytical skill and artistic sensitivity. These works established the foundations of his distinctive drawing style, balancing technical accuracy with a strong appreciation of form, colour, light, and shadow. Among the finest examples is this watercolour of the Arch of Titus, painted on 22 April 1891, admired for its freshness, spontaneity, and ability to capture the monument as both an architectural study and an independent work of art.