Walker Fawkes (1769-1825),

by descent to Major Le Gendr♓e George William Horton-Fawkes (1892-19ꦅ82),

with Agnew’s, London;

H.C. Green,

with Leger Galleries, London,

Private collection, Japan, by 1979,

by direct descent to the present owner 

W. Thornbury, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., vol. II, London 1862, p. 393;

C.F. Bell, The Exhibited Work of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., London 1901, p. 48, no. 71;

Sir W. Armstrong, Turner, London 1902, p. 248;

A.J. Finberg, Turner’s Water-Colours at Farnley Hall, London 1912, p. 25, no. 78;

A.J. Finberg, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., Oxford 1961, pp. 479 & 503, no. 130;

A. Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Art of Life, Fribourg 1979, p. 356, no. 490;

A. Lyles, Turner and Natural History: The Farnley Project, London 1988, p. 35;

J. Gage, J.M.W. Turner: A Wonderful Range of Mind, New Haven 1987, p. 146, no. 219;

E. Shanes, ‘Sacrificing Symmetry: Turner and the Inner Room display at the Royal Academy in 1811’, British Art Journal, vol. XVI, London 2015, p. 70-75, no. 2;

L. Bailey, ‘Turner’s Purposeful Patron: Walter Fawkes: 1819 Watercolour Exhibition', Turner Society News, no. 131, London 2019, p. 18

London, Turner’s Gallery, 1809, no. 3;

London🌟, Royal Academy, 1811, no. 503 (a✱s ‘May: Chickens’);

London, 45 Grosven🀅or Place, Walter Fawkes' London home, 1819, no. 5 (as 'The Cottage Door’);

Leeds, Albion Street Music Hall, 1839, no. 50;

London, Lawrie & Co., 1902, no. 13 (as ‘English Cottag🐓e Scene’)

This watercolour dates to circa 1809 and is a rare example of Turner turning his attention to genre subjects, a field of painting that derives from the Dutch masters of the 17^th century, was taken up in England by the likes of Gainsborough and Reynolds in the 18^th century, and enjoyed popularity amongst early 19^th -century Britis🙈h c𝔉ollectors, who were stimulated by the oils of Sir David Wilkie, R.A. (1785-1841) and Edward Bird, R.A. (1772-1819), and watercolours by the likes of Joshua Cristall (1767-1847) and Thomas Heaphy (1775-1835).

Turner first exhibited this work in 1809 at his own gallery in Queen Anne’s Street, London, under the title Cottage Steps. Children Feeding Chickens. At the 1811 Royal Academy exhibition, Turner exhibited four oil paintings and five watercolours; the present work was exhibited under the title May: Chickens and was hung at one end of the west wall of the newly created ‘Inner Room.’¹ At the other end of that wall, he displayed his November: Flounder-fishing, a watercolour painted in the same upright format as May: Chickens.¹

Turner certainly intended for these two watercolours to be seen as a pair. Their titles make clear t♉hat they represent two different times of the year and the sense of the passing of time is heightened by Turner’s decision to include two older fishermen in his ‘November’ scene, in contrast, with the two young children who take centre stage in the present work. Both pictures were acquired, at or soon after the exhibition, by Turner’s great friend and patron Walter Fawkes (1769-1825) and he later included them in his exhibition of watercolours by British contemporary artists that took place in the spring of 1819 at his London home in Grosvenor Place.

Turner’s subject is delightful. Two children sit on the steps of a rustic cottage with the sun on their backs.² The girl, who is bare footed, watches a family of chickens scratch around in the dust, while Turner emphasizes her attachment to them by placing a chick in her left h💮and. Her companion, however, makes us aware of a potential threat to this tranquil scene for, on the left, he has spotted a cat, stealthily makꦗing its way through the vegetation towards the fowl.

Turner was a master of this type of narrative and he regularly populated his landscapes with the people anꦦd animals that lived 𝐆there. What is so unusual and exciting about the present sheet is that this human drama is thrust front and centre.

1. A. Wilton, lit.op.cit, 1979, p. 356, no. 491
2. It has been suggested that the cottage might have been based on Ash Grove in Knockholt, Kent, which was owned by Turner's close friend, William Frederick Wells (1764-1836). The children may be two of Wells's younger offspring.