Beschreibung:

after the oil portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence the writer seated next to a circular table covered in manuscripts and writing materials, holding a pen in his right hand, watercolour with touches of body white over pencil, extensively heightened with gum-arabic, 470 x 375mm. (18 1/2 x 14 3/4 in), mounted on contemporary wove paper wrapped over an oak panel, partially faded inscription on verso, Sir Walter Scott Bart./ from His Majesty's Picture/ (?Windsor) Castle by/ Sir Thomas Lawrence/ S.P. Denning, Dulwich/ (???)2, under glass in ornate 19th century gilt frame, [c.1840 (?1842)]. *** Stephen Poyntz Denning (1795-1864) had a remarkable rise from impoverished obscurity to become a highly accomplished watercolourist and miniaturist. He trained under John Massey Wright from 1814 to 1817, and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, also from 1814, to 1852. At the age of 26, in 1821, he was appointed curator at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. He remained there until he died in 1864, and is buried in West Norwood cemetery. Dulwich Picture Gallery holds his portrait of Princess Victoria, Aged Four, (1823), and an oil study of a woodman, both unsigned, but three other publicly held paintings perhaps hold even more interest. In 1841, Denning was commissioned by the whale oil magnate and generous patron of the arts, Elhanan Bicknell, to paint a group portrait in watercolour of his children, now in the V&A. Bicknell was a great supporter and friend of many contemporary British artists such as Turner, Roberts, Landseer and Collins. The walls in the drawing room of his country house in Herne Hill were said to be completely covered in watercolours, some of which are known to have been copies, including some after Lawrence and other by William Derby Some of these, along with many splendid original works by the other artists already listed, were bought by the Marquis of Hertford when he acquired about a third of the Bicknell collection at the Christie's sale, in 1863, that followed the latter's death two years earlier, (he is also buried in Norwood). The Marquis of Hertford's collection formed the foundation of the Wallace Collection. This also includes, with different provenance, Denning's watercolour after Thomas Sully's portrait of the young Queen Victoria. Another fine example of Denning as copyist is his rendering in watercolour, now in the National Maritime Museum, of John Burnet's large oil panel, The Greenwich Pensioners Commemorating Trafalgar. Sir Thomas Lawrence (1768-1830) had been appointed Principal Painter to George III in 1792, though it was only after the accession of George IV that royal commissions became more frequent. His portrait of Sir Walter Scott was commissioned in 1820, and was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1827. One can readily understand that fine copies of such well-known works of popular artists or subjects of the day, would be desireable additions to private collections. Provenance: private collection, South London.