Page 40 - James Ward - A Lioness with a Heron

1 E. Fletcher, Conversations of James Northcote, RA, with James Ward on art and artists, London, 1901, p. 131.
2 Catalogued as: ‘A Lioness with a heron in a grand landscape - in handsome carved frame. One of the finest works of the Master’. Sold for 47
guineas, 5 shillings to P. & D. Colnaghi.
3 Catalogued as: ‘A Lioness and Heron, A wild mountainous landscape, with a lioness lying down, with its left forepaw on a heron, and
turning its head to the right, showing its teeth, Signed with monogram, 1816, 44 ½ by 58 in., Exhibited at Burlington House, 1885; Exhibited
at the Guildhall, 1894; Exhibited at the Bristol Art Gallery, 1908’; and annotated as sold for ‘£105 to Buck’.
4 As noted on the image card in the Witt Collection (under Paintings, British Schools, James Ward), Witt Library, Courtauld Institute of
Art, London.
5 Grundy believes the picture exhibited at the British Institution in 1817 (no. 565) and the present picture (no. 566), which he describes as
having been ‘bought by Mr Earle [sic]’, to be the same. Grundy quotes from Ward’s letter of April 11, 1848: ‘The world knows nothing of
what I can do in that way but from Mr Earle’s [sic] picture’. Though Grundy does not cite the source of this letter, nor its original recipient,
subsequent scholars have taken his quotation at face value, and have consistently ascribed the picture’s initial provenance to ‘Mr. Earle’. However,
there is no other evidence that Ward sold his work to any collector by this name. Grundy’s reference is actually an erroneous transcription, as
the present picture was sold at Christie’s in 1862 as part of the property of the late Thomas Garle, Ward’s patron and long-time friend.
6 Grundy, op. cit., p. 48, no. 566.
7 The work’s full title is Gordale Scar (A View of Gordale, in the Manor of East Malham in Craven, Yorkshire, the Property of Lord Ribblesdale), 1812-
14 (exhibited 1815), oil on canvas, 332.7 x 421.6 cm (approx. 11 x 14 ft), London, Tate Britain, inv. no. N01043. See Beckett, op. cit., pl. 7.
8 The Literary Gazette; and Journal of the Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences &c. (London), No. IV (Thursday, 15 February 1817), under ‘Fine Arts:
British Institution’, pp. 59-60; the italics are original.
9 When the picture was included in a selective inventory of works by Ward owned by noted racing enthusiasts, including Thomas Garle, it
was cited as having been engraved, although at this time the author has no direct knowledge of any engraving after this particular picture. See
The Sporting Magazine, November 1826, Vol. XIX, no. CX, pp. 16-18.
10 See L. Eitner, Théodore Géricault: his life and work, London, 1982, p. 218, pp. 232-233, p. 329 (note 36) and p. 352 (note 97). See also
Monterrey, Mexico, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Passage to the Present: Masterworks from the Museo de Arte de Ponce, 2007-2008,
p. 134, cat. 46.
11 1807, oil on canvas, 74.3 x 117.5 cm (29 ½ x 46 ? in), London, Tate Britain, inv. no. N01175. See Beckett, op. cit., reproduced pl. 2.
12 1810, oil on canvas, 83.5 x 124.5 cm (32 ½ x 49 in), signed and dated, Bristol, Bristol Art Gallery, inv. no K1703. See Beckett, op. cit.,
reproduced on p. 54.
13 Painted around 1802, oil on mahogany panel, 132 x 228 cm (52 x 93 ¾ in), London, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. no. 220-1871. See
Beckett, op. cit., reproduced pl. 10.
14 Ward’s original canvas measured 36 x 21 ft. and had to be put onto rollers and painted in sections. Ward’s unproven technique for painted
machines of this size resulted in a disastrous waste of materials and time. Often he would not allow the paint to dry correctly before embarking
on a new section and would repeatedly have to scrape his work away and begin again. Ward’s lack of professional self-control throughout this
project was such that when it was pointed out that his canvas was too tall for the wall it was meant to occupy, he suggested building a new hall.
The only surviving visual evidence of Ward’s original mammoth composition is a preliminary study in the Chelsea Hospital Museum, London.
See Beckett, op. cit., colour pl. 13.
15 Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786-1846) was a British historical painter and writer whose formative influences were Reynold’s concept of the
Grand Manner and the work of Henry Fuseli. He viewed painting as a higher calling rather than a profession and though he earned important
(even royal) patronage during his career, he was constantly in debt, partly because it took him years to produce his mammoth, often unwieldy
historical subject pictures. Additionally, his vainglorious and combative attitudes towards the Academy and patrons alike eventually alienated
him from the art establishment and he finally succeeded in committing suicide in 1846, after two botched attempts. His ambitions as an artist
far overreached the limitations of his style and technique, but he was acknowledged to be an exceptional draughtsman and Sir Edwin Landseer
was one of his pupils. See M. Pidgely, ‘Benjamin Robert Haydon’, in The Oxford Dictionary of Art, London.
16 G. E. Fussell, James Ward R.A. Animal Painter (1769-1859), and His England, London, 1974, p. 16.
17 Fussell, op. cit., p. 26-27; see also Beckett, op. cit., p. 6.
18 See Grundy, op. cit., p. XIV-XV; see also Beckett, op. cit., p. 12.

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