Torr Antiques & Decorative Arts

Description

This is one from a wonderful set of four early Victorian watercolours of views of Dover including the White Cliffs and Dover Castle, circa 1845, all of which are listed separately.

This view shows a cart laden with an anchor and various other objects pulled by two cart horses and attended by several men entering the town of Dover, with the Castle and White Cliffs in the distance. Not far ahead at a turn in the road three soldiers in red tunics and white trousers stand guard. The masts of ships can be spotted in the middle distance as well as a church on higher ground.

None of the watercolours are signed and dated but there are clues in the pictures which allow us to date them reasonably precisely.

The presence of a train in one of the paintings dates the scene to no earlier than 1844 when the Folkestone to Dover railway line was opened, whereas the soldier's uniforms in the other three paintings suggest a date no later than the mid 1850s as the red tunics were phased out except for ceremonial duties following the Crimean War. Those two clues narrow the date to within a decade in the early Victorian period but the fact that there is a small crowd watching the train would perhaps indicate that the train was still a novelty and point to a date near the start of that decade.

Dimensions: Frame 58 cm x 43 cm
Image on view 44.5 cm x 29 cm
Weight 2.3 kg

Condition: The painting is in very good antique condition though perhaps a little faded. The gilt frame is somewhat distressed and has been touched-up with gold paint in places.

Each of these pictures was taken apart, cleaned and resealed in their frames using framer's traditional paper tape.

Postage & Packing: £15 within the UK. Ideally, we would like to sell these paintings in pairs, as this would help to protect the glazing during transport.