Attrib. Charles G. Davidson RWS (1820-1902) - Watercolour The Little Windmill

Description

This charming composition takes in views of an old working windmill, cottage and cattle, all on the distant horizon. In the foreground a mother and child can be seen approaching a steady stream with buckets to fill. The watercolour has been presented in a slim gilt frame with a new card mount. Inscribed 'Davidson (1820-1902)' to the reverse. Unsigned. On paper.

Condition

The condition is typical for a picture of this age including some discolouration.

Size

10.5 x 15.5cm (4.1" x 6.1")
Framed Size: 30.5 x 34.5cm (12" x 13.6")

Artist Biography

Charles Grant Davidson RWS (1820-1902) was a British watercolour painter. Davidson was born in London, to Scottish parents, on 30 July 1824, and was left an orphan at an early age. After education at a school in Chelsea, he apprenticed himself to a seedsman and market-gardener in Brompton. At the end of a year he left in order to study music, but finally decided on painting, and worked for some years under John Absolon, a member of the New watercolour Society (now the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours). He was himself elected an associate of the society in 1847 and a member in 1849. He resigned his membership in 1853, and on 12 February 1855 was elected an associate of the Old watercolour Society (now the Royal Watercolour Society); he became a full member on 14 June 1858 and an honorary retired member in 1897. A friend of John Linnell, Samuel Palmer, and John and Cornelius Varley, Davidson soon established a high reputation. He exhibited from 1844 to 1902 at the Old watercolour Society (where over 800 of his works appeared), at the New watercolour Society, the Royal Academy, the British Institution, the Royal Society of British Artists, and elsewhere. His subjects were chiefly typical English landscapes; he also worked a good deal in Wales. His Haymaking at Priory Park, Near Reigate was bought by Prince Albert as a Christmas present for Queen Victoria in 1856. On 8 December 1842 he married Ann Topham, a sister of the watercolour painter Francis William Topham. They had two sons, one of whom, Charles Topham Davidson, became a landscape painter; and four daughters, one of whom, Annie Laura, married the painter Frank Holl. Davidson lived for about 28 years in Redhill, Surrey; from 1882 he lived in Falmouth, Cornwall, where in that year he exhibited at the Jubilee Exhibition of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society.