CHATSWORTH SUMMER FINE ART SALE 18th & 19th June 2025

35 Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 “Sunset,” c 1860, O.O.C., approx.. 76cms x 99cms (30” x 39”). Bears label verso, with inscription: ‘Sunset, John Linnell Snr. Red Hill, Surrey’ and the verse: ‘The Spirit of Beauty unfurls her light, And wheels her course in a joyous flight: . . At eve, she hangs o’er the western sky Dark clouds for a glorious canopy; And round the skirts of each sweeping fold, She paints a border of crimson and gold, Where the lingering sunbeams love to stay, When their god in his glory has pass’d away.’ Handwritten in ink, these lines are taken from the poem‘The Spirit of Beauty’ by the American author Rufus Dawes (1803-1859) and published in 1841, in Chambers Edinburgh Journal. Dawes’ poem evidently inspired Linnel’s painting of a rural landscape at sunset. The sun has just set, but its rays illuminate the clouds filling the sky, the light on the horizon contrasting with the valley in shadow. In the centre, above the setting sun, a patch of clear blue sky can be glimpsed through heavy clouds. In the foreground, sheep and cattle are being driven along a country road, beside a winding river. Although not a member of the Pre-Raphaelite group, Linnell admired their work, and, as with Sunset, many of his paintings have pastoral subject matter, depicting herding or harvesting scenes. In his 1861 painting Homeward Bound, sheep and cattle are being driven along a country road at sunset, while his 1853 Harvest Home, Sunset: The Last Load is in Tate Britain. The attribution of the present painting to Linnell is based on factors such as age, quality and subject-matter, although it may be a copy after an original by Linnell. Born in London, the son of a carver and gilder, after studying with Benjamin West and John Varley, John Linnell enrolled in 1805 at the Royal Academy. He lived for a time with the painter William Mulready, and they sketched landscapes together. In 1817 Linnell married Mary Ann Palmer. In the early years of his career, Linnell worked mainly as a portrait painter and engraver, but meeting with William Blake in 1818 inspired him to create works that could express his deeper, more spiritual, feelings. He admired the work of Samuel Palmer, who he introduced to William Blake. He visited Palmer in Shoreham, and the painting Sunset may be set in the countryside near there. Palmer influenced Linnell, particularly in the introduction of sheep and shepherds as subject matter in his paintings. There were close bonds between the two, and in 1837, Palmer married Linnell’s daughter Hannah. Nine years later, having secured the patronage of a wealthy art collector, Linnell was free to follow his love of landscape and spiritual and religious subjects. In 1847 he began work on a large canvas Noah: The Eve of the Deluge, in which, beneath storm clouds gathering over a dark valley, figures look westward towards a glorious sunset. Biblical elements such as these can be found in many of Linnell’s works. In 1851, buoyed by the success of his landscape paintings, Linnell settled in Redhill, Surrey, where he lived for the rest of his life. He last exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1881, and died the following year, aged ninety. €2000 - €3000 395. John Linnell (1792-1882) (Attributed)