Kenilworth Castle, from the South, situate between Warwick & Coventry

Location

Country: Peru
City: Lima
Place: British Embassy

Vegetation spills from the ruined walls of Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire. In front of the castle a fence, enclosing cattle in a field, follows a gentle sweeping curve, which is echoed by the gnarled tree to the right of the composition and the clouds above. The path around the fence is populated by tourists visiting the ruin.

Kenilworth Castle was founded in 1122 by Geoffrey de Clinton, treasurer to Henry I. It was extended and strengthened as a fortress by King John. Henry V later added a grand banqueting house and Henry VIII enlarged the Castle’s lodgings. This impressive complex of buildings was damaged, but not entirely demolished, when it fell into Parliamentary hands during the Civil War. The castle remained unoccupied and neglected following the Restoration, causing it to fall into ruin.

Throughout the 19th century, Kenilworth Castle was one of the most popular ruins in England, visited by a continuous stream of tourists and painters. It was painted by J. M. W. Turner (1830, Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco), James Ward (1840, Yale Center for British Art) and Thomas Cole (1841, Juniata College Museum of Art, Huntingdon), amongst others. When the writer Henry James visited in 1877, he described the scene outside the Castle, where ‘a row of ancient peddlers …[were] hawking twopenny pamphlets and photographs’ to the many visitors.

Thomas Smith of Derby was a topographical and picturesque landscape painter who lived in Bridgegate, Derby. He exhibited at the Society of Artists and the Free Society of Artists from 1760 to 1767. Several examples of his work include groups of elegant tourists admiring views of country estates. He took his art sufficiently seriously to name both his sons after great painters, calling them Thomas Correggio Smith and John Raphael Smith (who continued the tradition by naming his son John Rubens Smith). Both of his sons naturally became artists, as did his daughter, Emma. Smith died on 5 September 1767 in Hotwells, a district of Bristol.
Francois Vivares was born near Montpellier, France. He was apprenticed to a tailor but made drawings, etchings and engravings in his spare time. He moved to London, aged 18, to study under French engraver and draughtsman Jean-Baptiste-Claude Chatelain and later under Italian painter Jacopo Amigoni. By 1744 he was publishing prints. He opened a print shop near Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square), producing prints after his own work, that of his pupils and ‘of the best Masters’. He became one of the most renowned landscape engravers of his time and is particularly known for engravings after the works of French painter Claude Lorrain. In 1766, he became a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists. He died in London, aged 71.

Places

England, Warwickshire

Subjects

topography, tree, cow, river, man, woman, field, fence, castle, ruin

Materials & Techniques

engraving, coloured engraving

Artist

Thomas, (of Derby) Smith (c.1720 - 24-1767)
Francois Vivares (1709 - 1780)

Title

Kenilworth Castle, from the South, situate between Warwick & Coventry

Date

1769

Medium

Coloured engraving

Acquisition

Purchased from Frank T Sabin, July 1974

GAC number

11228