Attrib. John Laporte (1761-1839) - Early 19th Century Gouache Rustic Landscape

Description

A fine gouache and watercolour landscape. Figures wield sickles in the foreground while a river winds through the countryside towards the mountains in the distance. Very well presented glazed in a wash line mount and a birdseye maple veneer frame. Though unsigned, the painting is typical of the artist. There is an Abbott and Holder gallery label from 1983 on the verso which includes the attribution. On wove.

Condition

There is some flaking and losses to the paint layer, primarily at the centre and right edge. There is some slight debris trapped beneath the glazing at the lower corners. Nonetheless, the painting is bright, well-presented, and in very good condition for its age.

Size

35.1 x 50.2cm (13.8" x 19.8")
Framed Size: 65.1 x 78.2cm (25.6" x 30.8")

Artist Biography

John Laporte (1761-1839) was an English landscape painter and etcher, who worked in and around London, England. Laporte was born into a family of French Huguenot origins, possibly in London or in Ireland, and studied art under the Irish-born Huguenot painter John Melchior Barralet, either in London or Dublin. He became a drawing-master at the Addiscombe Military Seminary, Surrey. He was also a successful private teacher, and Dr. Thomas Monro (the patron of J.M.W. Turner amongst others), was one of his pupils. From 1785 he contributed landscapes to the Royal Academy and British Institution exhibitions in London, and was an original member of the short-lived society called 'The Associated Artists in Watercolours,' from which he retired in 1811. He also painted in oils.


Laporte published 'Characters of Trees' (1798-1801), 'Progressive Lessons sketched from Nature' (1804), and 'The Progress of a Watercolour Drawing'. Between 1801 and 1805 he and his collaborator William F. Wells made seventy-two soft-ground etchings after drawings by Thomas Gainsborough (thirty-three by Laporte, the remainder by Wells). They initially issued these etchings as individual plates, upon completion of each (thus bearing publication dates ranging from 1802 to 1805), and then as hand-coloured and bound sets under the title A Collection of Prints, illustrative of English Scenery, from the Drawings and Sketches of Gainsborough (circa 1805; reissued in 1819 by the publisher H.R. Young but with only around sixty-two plates and the original publication dates removed from these). Laporte's 'Perdita Discovered by the Old Shepherd' was engraved by Bartolozzi, and his 'Millbank on the River Thames' by Francis Jukes. Laporte died in London on 8 July 1839, aged 78.