Panoramic View over Naples Bay 19th century Watercolor by Richardson RWS ^Sale

Unsigned, but it is attributed to Thomas Miles Richardson Jr., R.W.S. (1813 - 1890), since the similar work was sold through Christies in 1998 (same size with signature and date 1861, it is vary in details a little). So, what we have before us is probably the author’s repeat / first study or draft version. The composition features figures dressed in traditional Neapolitan attire, standing on a terrace that overlooks the picturesque Bay of Naples from a vantage point above Pozzuoli. In the distance, we can see the islands of Nisido and Capri, adding depth to the panoramic landscape. The artist invites us to enjoy the beauty of the Italian coast, with the help of this watercolor in all its splendor. His works are known for their vibrant contrasts of color and skillful handling that translates his sketches into stunning works of art. When depicting expansive landscapes and other panoramic scenes, he not unfrequently extends the field of vision laterally by the use of paper of widely oblong proportions. Watercolor painting on paper, framed. Comes from the private collection of a Swedish estate.
Size app.: 34.3 x 99 cm (roughly 13.5 x 39 in), frame is 43.3 x 108 cm (roughly 17 x 42.5 in). Overall in very good condition with age tan – note the frame margin. Please study good resolution images for cosmetic condition. In person actual painting may appear darker or brighter than in our pictures, strictly depending on sufficient light in your environment. Weight of app. 2.2 kg is going to measure 5 kg packed for shipment.
The son of the Newcastle landscape painter of the same name, Thomas Miles Richardson Junior was trained by his father, and was arguably to become even more successful than him. He began his career in his native Newcastle, where he first exhibited his work at the age of fourteen. By the 1830’s his watercolor landscapes were achieving a measure of commercial and critical success, and he was sending his work to be exhibited at the British Institution and the Royal Academy in London. In 1838 he published a large folio of twenty-six plates entitled Sketches on the Continent, a series of views in France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Holland, etc. from sketches made during a tour in 1837, with eleven of the plates lithographed by himself. In Newcastle Richardson ran a private art academy together with his elder brother and fellow artist George, but in 1846, three years after being elected an Associate of the Old Water-Colour Society, he decided to settle in London. In 1851 he became a full member of the OWCS, and from then until his death took part in every summer and winter exhibition of the Society, eventually showing over seven hundred watercolors. Richardson travelled extensively throughout Scotland and the North of England, and also widely in Europe. His exhibited works, often on a panoramic scale, were made up largely of landscapes in the Borders and the Scottish Highlands, Italian views and, in later years, Alpine scenes in Switzerland, France and Italy. As one contemporary writer noted of Richardson, shortly after his death, ‘The history of his life is almost written in the account of his exhibited drawings, nearly all of which are local views, British and foreign, which imply many seasons of sketching both at home and abroad... Following a few years of poor health, Richardson died in January 1890, and the contents of his studio were dispersed at auction at Christie’s in London in June of that year. A large group of watercolors by the artist is today in the collection of the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, while several others are in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.