Object Description
A rediscovered small oil painting of a fishing boat leaving Calais Harbour by E W Cooke, depicting a fishing boat from Trouville battling stormy seas as it attempts to reach the harbour in Calais.
Label on reverse ‘No. 4 Trouville Fishing boat entering Calais Harbour, E W Cooke, The Ferns, Victoria Road, Kensington.’
Provenance
Exhibited in Glasgow in 1849 (probably the West of Scotland Academy of Fine Arts exhibition)
Acquired by the Glasgow Art Union for 10 Gns
Won in the Glasgow Art Union ballot by the Duke of Hamilton
Hung at Hamilton Palace until sold in the famous Hamilton Palace sale lot 1078 “Trouville Fishing Boat entering Calais Harbour” for 80 Gns to Thomas Agnew and Sons
Sold By Agnew’s to the collector Henry Dewhurst on the 13th of October 1882, probably from the Manchester branch of the dealership (stock number 2497)
Sold from the Henry Dewhurst collection at Christie’s King Street on the 19th of April 1890
Reacquired at the sale by Agnews (stock number 5531) and sold to “Mrs Kay” in February of 1891
This fine painting is by the great English maritime artist Edward William Cooke (1811-1880), regarded by many as the leading English marine painter of the latter part of the 19th century.
Aside from its obvious visual interest, this painting has quite exceptional history. Painted in 1848, it was exhibited in Glasgow in 1849 according to John Munday’s definitive work on the artist ‘E. W. Cooke: A Man of His Time’, a copy of which is included with the painting. The provenance of the painting is discussed on page 326. It was acquired by the Glasgow Art Union at this stage. The Art Union was a subscription society and for an annual fee, members were entitled to an entry in the ballot for that year. Those members who won prizes were entitled to pick from the available art works acquired by the Union in order based on when their numbers were picked. A report in the Glasgow Courier, 23rd of April 1850 recorded the prize winners for the year and the Duke of Hamilton, having been drawn 30th, chose the present painting as his prize and hung it at Hamilton Palace. Despite the competition from many other world class works of art for hanging space, the painting remained in the Palace until Christie’s famous 17 day long sale in 1882 when the piece was sold to the top dealers Thomas Agnew and Sons for 80 Gns. To place this in context, lots 1077 and 1080 were two portraits by Sir Peter Lely and our painting, sold two years after Cooke’s death, achieved a higher price than either of the aforementioned works.
Agnews sold the painting from their Manchester gallery to the collector Henry Dewhurst, part of the Dewhurst dynasty of woollen fabric printers based in Huddersfield. He hung the work along with other pieces by Cooke and other modern artists in his home Fartown Lodge in Huddersfield, only selling the work when he retired to Eastbourne late in his life. Like Cooke, Dewhurst was an amateur scientist with a great interest in astronomy and perhaps it was these shared passions that drew him to the artist’s work.