19th Jun, 2012 10:00

Fine Art Sale

 
  Lot 45
 

Sold for £3,400


Lot details
Dr. William Crotch (1775-1847) AN ALBUM OF DRAWINGS AND WATERCOLOURS, MOSTLY DEPICTING CLARE HALL, ST. ALBANS, HERTFORDSHIRE, HOME OF CATHARINE SHARP, PUPIL OF DR. CROTCH AND ORIGINAL OWNER OF THIS ALBUM: THE COLLECTION COMPRISING FIFTY SIX PENCIL OR GRISAILLE LANDSCAPE STUDIES AND NINE WATERCOLOURS inscribed and dated variously between September 20th, 1806 and October 12th, 1910; also included but unmounted in the album, is an engraved portrait of William Crotch aged 3 years, by J. Sanders of Norwich, published 1778; a 19th Century albumen-type photograph of Clare Hall; a small quantity of other drawings, perhaps by Catharine Sharp; and sundry other intaglio prints: All in half morocco binding with marbled boards and manuscript contents-page. 59.5 x 47cms; 23 1/4 x 18 1/2in. NB Dr. Crotch was a composer, instrumentalist, landscape painter and draughtsman - an infant prodigy (as celebrated in the Sanders engraving), who achieved Mastery of the Piano at the age of only 2 1/2. Capriciously he would on occasion refuse to perform in front of an audience and at one performance preferred to make chalk drawings of ships, soldiers and other subjects on the floor. By the age of 22 he was a professor of music at Oxford. He was associated with the circle of the Oxford drawing Master John Malchair (1729-1812) and in 1803, succeeded William Delamotte as drawing master to the Oxford Undergraduates, teaching there until his move to London with his wife and family in December 1805. Examples of Crotch's watercolour landscapes are kept at Norfolk Records Office, Brighton Art Gallery, The Ashmoliean Museum, Oxford, the Tate Gallery, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Museum. See illustration
 

Auction: Fine Art Sale, 19th Jun, 2012

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