EDWARD DAYES (LONDON 1763-1804), 'A view of a cascade and pillars of basalte in the Island of Osteroe, one of the Faroe Isles'

EDWARD DAYES (LONDON 1763-1804)
'A view of a cascade and pillars of basalte in the Island of Osteroe, one of the Faroe Isles'
signed 'Edwd Dayes delt.' (lower left), inscribed 'View of a Cascade & Pillars of Basalte in the Island of Osteroe one of the Färoe Isles' (lower centre in the margin), and dated '1790.' (lower right in the margin), and with further inscription, apparently by Lord Stanley '...are in a place so beautifull [sic] as the cascade presented in this Drawing. They were too high above us to form any exact conjecture concerning their proportions, but are imagined.../ ... from the waters edge to the top of the highest column to be nearly four hundred feet higher, where the columns are... perpendicular from the gully through which the torrents begin to rush down/ the hill, a pillar has detached itself and lies across the opening. Some others threaten to fall in the same manner as this has done, many others have done so already and are stood in fragments on the sides of/ the mountain. The scenery on either side, the straits through which we were rowing is beautifull [sic] and varied. Numberless cascades fall from the heights on the side of the Osteroe and high mountains/ of the most picturesque shapes tower one above another on the Island of Stromvoe [Streymoy]. The highest of these and of any of the Faroe Islands is Skellingfell. Mr Wright... formed by a very/ accurate measurement and by the Barometer, that the highest was 2000 feet.' (verso)
pencil, pen and grey ink and watercolour on paper
16¹⁄₄ x 22 in. (41.3 x 56 cm.)

Sir John Stanley 7th Bt and 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley, (1766-1850), and by descent to
Edward, 6th Baron Stanley of Alderley; Sotheby's, London, 9 December 1964, lot 67.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 24 March 1981, lot 82.
with Thomas Agnew and Son, London.
with Marilyn Pink, Los Angeles, USA.
with Laurence Strenger, New York.

London, Martyn Gregory, British Watercolours and Drawings 1750-1900, cat. 95, May 2016, no. 21.

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Lot Essay

In 1789 Dayes was commissioned to prepare a series of watercolours from sketches made by John Thomas Stanley (1766-1850), later 1st Lord Stanley of Alderley, and others on his celebrated expedition to Iceland. Stanley and his party of 26 including James Wright, Isaac Benners and John Baine, left England in the brig 'John' on 26 May, and visited the Orkneys and the Faroe Islands en route before arriving in Iceland on 4 July.
Dayes exhibited at the Royal Academy and at the Society of Artists and was appointed Designer to the Duke of York. He had a number of pupils and apprentices, notably Thomas Girtin, and his incluence was felt throughout the 19th Century. He was largely employed as a topographer and travelled around Britain, he also worked up topographical sketches of amateur artists, such as Stanley and also James Moore, F.S.A. (1762-1799).