James Baker Pyne (British, 1800-1870)
The vales of Ennerdale and Buttermere with their lakes, also those of Crammock and Loweswater
signed and dated 'JBPYNE 1851 No316 (lower right); incribed with title and 'painted for Mr. Agnew, Manchester/JBPYNE.1851.' on the reverse
oil on canvas
122 x 187 cm. (48 x 73 1/2 in.)
signed and dated 'JBPYNE 1851 No316 (lower right); incribed with title and 'painted for Mr. Agnew, Manchester/JBPYNE.1851.' on the reverse
oil on canvas
122 x 187 cm. (48 x 73 1/2 in.)
Sold for
£10,200
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Property from a Private collection, South Africa.
Provenance:
Christies, London, June 15 1936.
Born in Bristol, James Baker Pyne was a self-taught artist who is often associated with depictions of the surrounding Avon area. A methodical artist who numbered and dated almost all of his oil paintings, Pyne also travelled to the Continent, gathering material for later completion into larger works, and found the Lake District a source of inspiration throughout his career. He is known to have completed a large series of oils depicting local people engaged in activities such as boating, fishing, ice skating or walking, adding a hint of picturesque detail about rural life. The grand scale of the mountainous terrain is shown off with tremendous affect.
The Lake District was celebrated in the poetry and paintings of nineteenth century artists such as Wordsworth and Ruskin. The lakes depicted in the present lot lie nested in the Ennerale valley to the west of the Lake District National Park, with Crummockwater between Buttermere to the North and Loweswater to the South. Pyne captures the impressive range of hills and mountains surrounding the lakes with particular beauty, including some of the highest and most well-known in Cumbria, such as Great Gable, Steeple and Pillar. The more gentile, rolling hills of Loweswater are tucked in behind. While each of the lakes were formed naturally through glacial movement, Ennerdale is currently used as a reservoir for the surrounding towns and villages. Loweswater is one of the smaller lakes of the National Park and is unusual in draining towards the East into the north end of Crummock Water, eventually finding the sea at Workington. Crummock Water itself is fed by the highest waterfall in the Lake District, Scale Force and the hills of Mellbreak run full length of the lake on it's western side. As Alfred Wainwright described it 'no pairing of hill and lake in Lakeland have a closer partnership than these'.
Category: Fine Art / 19th Century Paintings
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