Live Auction 7822Cabinet d'un Amateur Européen
Christie’s roundel
Lot 327

David Roberts, R.A. (British, 1796-1864)

View of Lucerne, Switzerland

Closed9 December 2009

Estimate

GBP 30,000–50,000

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David Roberts, R.A. (British, 1796-1864)
View of Lucerne, Switzerland
signed and dated 'David Roberts, 1852' (lower left), and signed, inscribed and dated, 'View of Lucerne, Switzerland To Christine on her Birthday June 4th 1852 By David Roberts RA' (on the reverse) and further indistinctly inscribed (on the reverse)
oil on panel
15½ x 21 in. (39.4 x 53.4 cm.)

Given by the artist to his daughter, Christine, subsequent wife of Henry Bicknell.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 9 July 1997, lot 75, where acquired by the present owner.

Specialist note

In September 1851 Roberts embarked on a tour of Italy with his friend, Edmund Cotterell. They travelled first to Brussels, and thence through Germany to Switzerland. The Alps made a particular impression, and they lingered in Basle and Lucerne where Roberts made a number of sketches. A watercolour of Lucerne with the mountains beyond is inscribed and dated 12 September 1851 (see Helen Guiterman and Briony Llewellyn, David Roberts, 1986, p. 124, no. 202.)

Born in 1821, Christine was David Roberts's only child. The artist gave her many of his paintings, often on her birthday. Other works in her collection included Gibralatar from Ronda, 1853, The Sea of Galilee, 1850, and SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, 1861.