DAVID ROBERTS R.A (BRITISH 1796-1864)
CATHEDRAL AT AMIENS
£2,000
Auction: 29 May 2008 at 12:00 BST
Description
Signed and dated 1830, pen and ink and watercolour
Dimensions
31cm x 23cm (12in x 9in)
Footnote
Note: David Roberts may have visited Amiens when he traveled to northern France in 1825. This accomplished watercolour, dated 1830 is most likely to have been painted from on-the-spot sketches rather than in-situ.
It is very similar to an oil composition, 'a small picture of the Church of St Remy at Amiens', which Roberts painted for Mr Scarnel in 1829 and which is reproduced in Roberts's Record Book.
The church of St Remy is situated south-west of the Cathedral of Nôtre Dame in Amiens and this watercolour most likely shows the tower of St Remy in the centre, with the Cathedral in the distance left, and the former cloister of the Convent of the Cordeliers on the right.
Roberts was very interested in the dress of different areas in northern France and Belgium as exemplified by his focus on the characteristic head dresses of the figures here.