Studio: international art (84.1922)

THE VICTOR RIENAECKER COL-
LECTION. BY H. M. CUNDALL,
I.S.O., F.S.A. (SECOND ARTICLE).

THE drawings mentioned in the previous
article by no means exhaust the list
of those by the early water-colour painters
in the possession of Mr. Victor Rienaecker.
The great art patron, Dr. Thomas Monro,
as is well known, invited many young
artists in their early struggles to his house
in Adelphi Terrace, and allowed them to
make copies of the paintings and drawings
inherited from his father. The doctor
himself was no mean artist, and was capable
of giving valuable advice to those whom he
befriended. He drew with great freedom,
and a drawing by him of a landscape with
trees has all the vigour of Gainsborough ;
two water-colour drawings, one a country
church, half hidden by foliage, and the
other a rustic village, display a considerable

knowledge of drawing and artistic treat-
ment. Samuel William Reynolds, the
noted engraver, could use a brush as well
as a graving tool. A landscape by him,
although slightly executed, is a pleasing
composition with a stream in the fore-
ground and hills in the distance, a 0
The "Old" Water-Colour Society,
founded in 1804, held its first exhibition
in the spring of the following year. Works
by many of the early members are to be
found in the collection. Those by John
Varley, George Barret, Jun., and Robert
Hills have already been noticed. William
Havell, another of the founders, is repre-
sented by an important landscape with
a flock of sheep being driven down a shady
lane. It is an early work before he left
England with Lord Amherst's Embassy
for China, and later for India where he
practised portrait painting. A Cornfield
near Woodstock, by William Turner (of

Vol. LXXXIV.—No. 355. October 1922.

' a windy day." water-colour
by david cox (1783-1859)
177