John Wilson Carmichael (British, 1800-1868) - Mr. John Selby, as Lord of the Manor, Perambulating th

John Wilson Carmichael (British, 1800-1868) - Mr. John Selby, as Lord of the Manor, Perambulating the Boundaries of Holy Island, Northumberland, 22 October 1893

Signed and dated ‘J.W. Carmichael/1840’ bottom left, oil on canvas
41 ½ x 61 ¼ in. (105.4 x 155.6cm)

Provenance

Cheffin's, sale of November 24, 2005, lot 679.
(Presumably) acquired directly from the above sale.
Richard Green, London, United Kingdom.
Acquired directly from the above
Private Collection, Florida.

Literature

John Wilson Carmichael painted various views of Holy Island, also known as Lindisfarne, including the present one in 1840, and another such view being exhibited at the Royal Academy. Here Carmichael depicts John Strangeways Donaldson Selby leading a boating party at left as they ‘perambulate,’ or inspect and record boundaries and landmarks. While this practice was historically customary in Britain, Carmichael here infuses the scene with a certain spiritual quality, as evidenced by traces of a rainbow above Selby and his party at left. Carmichael was born in, and regularly exhibited at Newcastle and was, as evidenced by the present work, a gifted marine painter who excelled in oils as well as watercolors, going on to publish ‘The Art of Marine painting in Water-Colours’ (1859) and ‘The Art of Marine Painting in Oil-Colours’ (1864).