MYLES BIRKET FOSTER (1825-1899)

KTC1565

watercolour over pencil with bodycolour

signed with monogram and inscribed with title (lower left)

59.70 cm wide 34.50 cm high

23.50 inches wide 13.58 inches high

Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 14 June 1966, lot 124;
The Bourne Gallery, Reigate

London, The Royal Watercolour Society, 1867, no.136

From the village of Lancing, in West Sussex, Myles Birket Foster has depicted the view across the River Adur to the village of Shoreham, on the far bank. A herd of cattle are funnelling slowly across the narrow toll bridge, whilst two villagers wait patiently in the warm sunshine. A small dog enthusiastically barks at the herd, and the cow bringing up the rear eyes it warily. On the banks of the Adur a washerwoman stretches her stiff back, whilst a companion continues to work in the water. Beyond these figures two heavily-laden barges can be seen labouring up-stream. On the far bank lies Shoreham, including the architecturally important St Nicolas’ Church on the left-hand side, which dates to the 10th century.

The Old Shoreham bridge was originally opened as a toll bridge in 1782. When it was first built it was comparable to many examples across Britain, but today it remains one of the few of its kind, worldwide. Before the bridge’s construction the River Adur was a major obstacle in communication along the coastal plain of Southern England. Travellers wishing to cross would either have to make the four mile journey to the Bramber bridge, or use the ferry, which was described in Parliament as ‘dangerous and frequently impassable’. Although the bridge was rebuilt during the First World War the original eighteenth-century design was adhered to, and the structure remains almost unchanged to this day.

Birket Foster’s idyllic watercolour views of rural England remain the works he is best known and appreciated for. Old Shoreham Bridge, Sussex is a fine example, comparable to many of his best works, including the V&A’s Landscape with Cattle. In both works Birket Foster presents the viewer with a rural idyll, as cattle cross a stretch of water, which glints in the sunlight, surrounded by the tranquil English countryside.

In the early part of his career, Birket Foster worked as an illustrator, primarily for Punch and The Illustrated London News. In the 1850s he started to work primarily in watercolour, a medium in which he excelled and with he established his reputation. He was best known for his scenes of rural England, but he also travelled to Europe on a regular basis, seeking inspiration from the continent. However, it was the south of England, including Shoreham,¹ which Birket Foster loved best, and which he continued to paint until his death.

¹ Birket Foster painted at least one further view of Shoreham, exhibited in the winter of 1873 at the Royal Society of Watercolourists. See Cundall, H. M., Birket Foster, R.W.S (Adam & Charles Black, London, 1906), p.204.

FOR SALE