Corfu from the North

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

This is one of two detailed views of the island of Corfu (see also GAC 9278), which describe individual buildings, vegetation, figures and ships before a background of distant mountain scenery. At the time the watercolours were painted the artist of the works, Arthur James Herbert, was serving as Deputy Quartermaster General for the Ionian Isles.

Arthur James Herbert was the son of John Jones of Llanarth, Monmouthshire. His maternal grandfather was Arthur James Plunkett, eighth Earl of Fingall. Born Arthur James Jones, he changed his surname to Herbert in 1848. He was commissioned into the 23rd Regiment of Foot in 1839 and rose to become a Major in 1854. He married Elizabeth, widow of George Ferguson of Houghton Hall, Southampton, in 1854. He served in the Crimean War (1853-56) and made sketches of the action. In 1856 he was appointed Deputy Quartermaster-General for the Ionian Islands, before becoming Assistant Adjutant-General at Headquarters. He was appointed Quartermaster-General to the Forces in 1882 but retired five years later to his home in Kensington. He died aged 77.

Places

Ionian Sea, Greece, Corfu

Subjects

topography, townscape/cityscape, mountain, sea, man, path, harbour, house, sailboat

Materials & Techniques

paper (as artists material), watercolour (as artists materials), watercolour (as object name)

Artist

Arthur James Herbert (1821 - 1897)

Title

Corfu from the North

Date

1861

Medium

Watercolour on paper

Dimensions

height: 37.50 cm, width: 85.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from the Parker Gallery, May 1971

Provenance

Private collection, Athens; with Parker Gallery, London; from whom purchased by the Department of the Environment in June 1971

GAC number

9277