ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤🦩⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚElhanan Bicknell (1788-1861), of Carlton House, Herne Hill, Dulwich,

his executor’s sale, London, Christie’s, 25🦋 April 1863, lot 116 ‘as ‘The Lighthouse at Le Havre – mo♔onlight’, bt. Moore, £110;

with Agnew’s, London,

by whom sold to T.S. Kennedy for £121.16,

Thomas Stuart Kennedy (1841-1894)🧔 of Park Hill, Wetherby, Yorkshire,

his executor’s sale, London, Christie’s𒁃, 18 May 1895, lot 88, bt. Agnew’s, who acquired the drawing on behalf of Sir Donald Currie (1825-1909)ꦍ,

by descent to the present owner

W. Thornbury, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, London 1862, vol. II, p. 401;

Sir. W. Armstrong, Turner, London 1902, p. 257;

A. Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, p. 418, no. 1002;

J. Piggott, Turner’s Vignettes, London 1993, p. 86, under no. 29;

C. Nugent and M. Croal, Turner Watercolours from Manchester, Washington and Manchester 1997, p. 92;

I. Warrell, Turner on the Seine, exhibition catalogue, London, Tate et al., 1999-2000, pp. 97 & 98, no. 177, fig. 62

London, Agnew’s, Centenary Exhibition of Water Colour Drawings by J.M.W. Turner, 1951, no. 69;

London, Tate, Paris, Pavillon des Arts, and Le Havre, Musée des beaux-arts André Malraux, Turner on the Seine, 1999-2000, no. 177

The thriving commercial port of Le Havre is situated in Normandy at the mouth of the River Seine. Turner knew it well🙈 and he passed through it on at least four occasions between ♍1821 and 1832. On each visit he stopped to record all that interested him, both in pencil and watercolor, and over time he built up a rich body of material that could be called upon should the need arise.

When compiling his catalogue raisonné in 1979 (see Literature), Andrew Wilton suggested that the present watercolor dated to circa 1832 and that it was connected to Turner’s series of engravings that were published in 1834 under the title: Turner's Annual Tours: Wanderings by the Seine. However, the discovery that Turner’s sheet of paper is watermarked with the date 1841 disproves this the🌺ory and the work is now understood to be part of a group of six vignettes that Turner painted in around 1844, which were owned - and may have been commissioned - by one of his most important patrons, Elhanan Bicknell (1788-1861).

Turner’s vision is dream-like in this watercolor. Conceived with a selective palette of reds, blues, greens and the most brilliant of whites, the clouds swirl in a vortex around a low and full moon, while below - on earth - the celestial light flickers on the surface of the sea, the chalky-cliffs and the harbor itself. The magical nature of this image is only heightened by Turner’s introduction of other light sources, namely the fiery red beacon of the lighthouse (which contrasts so dramatically with the inky night sky), the three tiny lights that are dotted along the cliff tops and, lastly, the intense 𒀰white sails of the magnificent ship that surges into view on the left. Put simply, this is a masterful watercolor that demonstrates Turner’s immense ability with the medium.

Light-towers of Le Havre has belonged to a number of distinguished collectors, including some the most important collectors of Turner’s work. The first, as we have seen, was Elhanan Bicknell, a merchant and ship owner who was heavily involved in the South Sea whaling industry. He lived with his large family in an elegant Georgian house on Herne Hill, near Dulwich and from the middle 1830s, he began to form what would evolve into a superlative art collection. Bicknell was a generous host and, being particularly interested in modern British painting, he regularly entertained both artists and connoisseurs at his home. H𝔍e seems to have first met Turner in 1835 and within time the artist was joining these social gatherings, while Bicknell himself paid the occasional visit to th🔯e artist’s studio in Queen Anne Street, London.

Although Bicknell amassed important works by other artists, including Roberts, Landseer, Clarkson Stanfield, Copley Fielding, Prout, de Wint and Muller, between 1838 and 1854 he acquired no fewer than twelve oil paintings and sixteen watercolors by Turner. In April 1863, two years after Bicknell’s death, Christie’s held a sensational six day sale of his collection, which prompted one journalist to describe him as a modern day ‘Lorenzo the Magnificent’.¹

The next owner was Thomas Stuart Kennedy (1841-1894), who was born in Lancashire in 1841. His father, originally from Glasgow, had travelled south to Leeds, where he established a lucrative textile business. Thomas was fascinated by mechanical engineering and after completing his education in Geneva and then Hanover, he joined his uncle’s firm in Leeds, which specialized in machinery used in the textile trade. Away from business he was a polo player, a founding member of the Alpine Club and a lover of music. In 1865 he married Clara Thornton in Canterbury Cathedral. She was the daughter of a wealthy millowner from Kent and in 1866 they commissioned Edward Welby Pugin to design an elaborate house for them at Meanwood, near Leeds. As they were both amateur musicians the house was designed to incorporate a full-scale organ which they commissioned from the celebrated Schulze brothers of Paulinzelle in Germany. They collected pictures and🍬 Thomas Kennedy’s sale of 1895 included eleven watercolors by Turner.

Lastly, and before descending directly down to the present owners, this work was acquired by Sir Donald Currie, perhaps the greatest late 19^th century collecꦰtor of Turner. For further information on his life and collection please see lot 48.

¹The Star Newspaper, 28 April 1863