George Vicat Cole, RA

(British, 1833-1893)

The decline of day

Footnotes

Provenance
Wiganthorpe Hall; sale, Henry Spencer & Sons Auctioneers, York, 23-25 October 1953, lot 24.
Private collection, UK (acquired at the above sale).
Thence by descent to the present owner.

Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, 1864, no. 346.

Literature
Robert Chignell, The life and Paintings of Vicat Cole, R.A., London, 1898, Vol. III, p. 84-85.

The present lot cements George Vicat Cole's status as one of the leading English 19th century landscape artists. Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1864, the large oil on canvas – a panoramic view of Weald, Surrey, looking towards Leith Hill – expertly captures a late-afternoon glow and is a homage to the glory of nature.

In the book The life and Paintings of Vicat Cole (1898), Robert Chignell wrote the following passage about the present lot: 'Moving his hut on Holmbury Hill to different points of vantage, he found an ever-varying foreground and middle-distance, whilst the Weald of Sussex [sic], unwearying in its beauty of varied form and changing atmosphere, stretched away to the far-off horizon. The sense of space and its accompanying mystery, whether in sky or plain, had always for him an impressive charm; and the delicate and truthful gradations of tone, by which he represented the aerial effects of distance, reveal not only the knowledge and skill of the artist, but also the tender sympathy of the lover. There is no indefinite generalisation, no vague patches of light and shade, laid on to produce startling but unnatural effects. Form is everywhere definite, yet veiled in light and toned down to its place in aerial perspective'.¹

In this vast work, Cole has included incredible detail using vibrant and rich colours. From the purple hues of the heather in bloom to the smoke rising from a hillside chimney to a dog intently watching a flock of sheep, the viewer is endlessly captivated. An open gate at the top of the hill encourages us to look to the setting sun, whose warm golden glow lights up an evening sky. All the elements unite to infuse the painting with tranquillity and loveliness – a truly impressive view.

¹ Robert Chignell, The life and Paintings of Vicat Cole, R.A., London, 1898, Vol. III, p. 84.