Sir Edward John Poynter, PRA, RWS, (British, 1836-1919)

In a Kensington Garden

In a Kensington Garden
signed with monogram and dated '1915' (lower left); bears inscription 'Edward J. Poynter Bt., K.C.V.O., P.R.A/70 Addison Road, Kensington. W/"In a Kensington Garden."' (on the backboard)
watercolour
53.3 x 76cm (21 x 29 15/16in).

Provenance
Private collection, Scotland.

Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, 1916, no. 1440.

Literature
Royal Academy Illustrated, 1916, p. 74.
Isabel G. McAlister, 'Some Watercolour Paintings by Sir Edward Poynter, PRA', The Studio, October 1917, p. 95 (illustrated p. 94).

Isabel McAlister commented in The Studio, a year after the present lot was exhibited, 'A Kensington Garden is a beautiful presentment of Sir Edward's garden, showing the effect of the morning sun between eight and nine o'clock. Gardens are more proverbially difficult to render, but Sir Edward has given us an example of what can be done with sunlight scintillating upon many different trees and shrubs'.

Garden subjects in watercolour constituted a number of Poynter's exhibits during the last years of his life. Other examples include The Rose Garden (1912), Wallflowers at Cherkley Court (1916), Spiraeas in the Rock Garden (1917), The Rose Arch (1918) and The Garden Path (1919).