Samuel Palmer

Download image: 
Samuel Palmer
1805-1881
Pear Tree in a Walled Garden
Watercolor and opaque watercolor over graphite on gray paper.
8 3/4 x 11 1/8 inches (222 x 281 mm)
Thaw Collection.
1980.37

Download verso image: 
Notes: 

Watermark: none.
Palmer moved to the village of Shoreham in Kent in 1826, and his style during this period reflects intense introspection and a communion with nature. He lived at Waterhouse, a Georgian house with a garden that went down to the river. It has been suggested that the artist may have based this drawing on the garden there, for the espaliered pear tree so vividly rendered in spring's full bloom here is closely related to another work entitled In a Shoreham Garden (Victoria and Albert Museum, London). -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"

Provenance: 
A.H. Palmer, Tilford, Surrey, and Vancouver, B.C.; sale, London, Christie's, 4 March 1929, lot 45, Victor Rienacker; Mrs. K.T. Parker, Oxford; Mrs. Paul J. Sachs, Cambridge, Mass.; Mr. and Mrs. Victor O. Jones (née Elizabeth Sachs); R.M. Light and Co., Boston; Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw, New York.
Associated names: 

Palmer, A. H., former owner.
Rienacker, Victor, former owner.
Parker, K. T. Mrs., former owner.
Sachs, Paul J. Mrs., former owner.
Jones, Victor O., former owner.
Jones, Victor O., Mrs., (née Elizabeth Sachs), former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.

Bibliography: 

The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 281, repr.
Stampfle, Felice, and Cara D. Denison. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975, no. 112. (also in Thaw III, no. 61)
Denison, Cara D. et al. The Thaw Collection : Master Drawings and New Acquisitions. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1994, no. 61.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Nineteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1978-1980. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981, p. 207.
European drawings, 1375-1825 / catalogue compiled by Cara D. Denison & Helen B. Mules ; with the assistance of Jane V. Shoaf. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1981, no. 125, repr. (includes full bibliography and exhibitions).

Artist page: 
School: 
Century: 
Classification: 
Department: