Hercules Brabazon Brabazon

Brabazon trained for a short time under James D'Egville and Alfred Downing Fripp, however he was largely self-taught. On trips to Spain, Italy, Egypt, the Indies and France, Brabazon executed scores of landscapes in watercolor and other media. The present drawing likely dates to the time Brabazon spent in Italy as the drawing's verso bears the inscription "Riviera di Penente," which is a stretch of coast that lies in the curve of the Ligurian coast that stretches west from Genoa to the French border. Brabazon captures the chalky cliffs and Mediterranean villages of the region with his characteristically hazy line and glow of the watercolor and gauche. The drawing is inscribed with his conventional signature: 'HBB'. It is similar to another undated composition by the artist, 'The Bury, on the Rivera' (illustrated in Hercules Brabazon Brabazon, 1821-1906).