Details
SIR DAVID WILKIE, R.A. (CULTS, FIFE 1785-1841 GIBRALTAR)
A view of Cults
oil on paper, laid down on canvas
1012 x 1734 in. (26.6 x 45.1 cm.)
Provenance
(Possibly) By inheritance from the artist to his siblings, Thomas Wilkie and Helen Wilkie (according to a label on the reverse).
(Possibly) Richard Nicholson, York; his sale; Christie's, London, 14 July 1849 (=2nd day), lot 193, where described as 'Cottage on a Sea Shore -- the birthplace of the painter' (8 gns. to Roahe).
William Fuller Maitland, Stanstead Hall, by 1872; his sale (†), Christie's, London, 10 May 1879, lot 68, sold for 58 gns. to,
Sir John Edward Gray Hill (1839-1914), Mere Hall, Oxton, Birkenhead; Chirstie's, London, 11 February 1911, lot 130 (912 gns. to Angeli).
Colonel Maurice Grant (1872-1962), possibly by 1925, certainly by 1942.
with Colnaghi, London.
Sir Geoffrey Hutchinson, later Lord Ilford (1893-1974), by 1958, and by inheritance to his widow, by whom sold to the following,
Anonymous sale; Phillips, London, 25 September 1978, lot 99, acquired after sale by the following,
with John Morton Morris & Co, London.
with Spink & Son Ltd., London, by 1979, where acquired by the present owner.
Literature
(Possibly) The Art Journal, XV, London, 1853, p. 152.
Catalogue of the collection of William Fuller Maitland, Stanstead Hall, privately printed, 1872.
F.G. Stephens, Portfolio, London, 1886, p. 408, where mistakenly conflated with a self-portrait of the artist.
M.H.Grant, Old English Landscape Painters, London, II, 1925, pl. 167.
Exhibited
Liverpool, Liverpool Art Club, Oil Painting by British Artists Born Before 1801, 1881, no. 257.
London, Grosvenor Gallery, Winter Exhibition: A Century of British Art from 1737 to 1837, 1888, no. 236.
Glasgow, Kelingrove Art Gallery, International Exhibtion, Fine Art Division, 2 May-4 November 1901, no. 339.
London, National Gallery, C.E.M.A., An exhibition of English landscapes in oils, 1942-1943, no. 43.
London, Art Council, Early English Landscapes from Colonel Grant's Collection, 1952-1953, no. 68.
London, Royal Academy Diploma Gallery; and Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, Paintings and Drawings by Sir David Wilkie. R.A., 1958 no. 3.
Special notice
This lot is offered without reserve.
This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.
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Lot Essay

Dateable to c. 1807, this is the earliest of the few known landscapes by Wilkie, and is believed to show a view near Cults, the town outside Aberdeen where the artist was born. Comparison with the drawing The Manse, Cults, Fife, The Artists Old Home (Yale Center for British Art, New Haven), establishes that this farmstead is not the Manse, however the character of the landscape and the buildings are perfectly in keeping with the area, and may have been painted to the East of the parish, near Cults Farm, or possibly Barbarafield, with Craigrothie beyond. The thin strip of blue behind the clump of trees may be Largo Bay, about six miles away.

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