Lot 176: GEORGE LAMBERT

RIVER LANDSCAPE WITH BRIDGE AND HILLTOP CASTLE
signed and dated l.l.: G. Lambert/ 1740

96 by 135.5 cm., 37 3/4 by 53 1/4 in.

oil on canvas

E. Einberg, "Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of George Lambert," The Walpole Society, Vol. LXIII, 2001, p.143, cat. no. P1740C, fig. 54

Sir Ralph Newman of Mamhead Park, Devon, by c.1940;
by descent to the present owner

Many of the topographical elements of this painting recall those of Bridgenorth on the Severn in Shropshire, with its castellated church tower atop a sheer sandstone cliff and honeycomb network of caves, in which troglodytes are known to have lived until the nineteenth century. [I]

First recorded in the collection of Sir Ralph Newman, 5 (th) Bt. of Mamhead Park in Devon, little is known of the painting's early existence. Built between 1827 and 1833, to designs by Anthony Salvin, the present house at Mamhead was the creation of Sir Robert William Newman (1776-1848), and it is possible that the painting descended through the generations with the house. The 5 (th) Baronet, Sir Ralph, an avid gardener and President of the Fuchsia Society from 1952, is also known to have acquired paintings himself however and the picture's provenance cannot be traced further than 1945.

The present work is one of three known landscapes by Lambert dated 1740, the other two being a huge view of Fonthill Redivivus, in Wiltshire (Government Art Collection) and Landscape with Storm (sold Christie's London, 3rd July 1953, lot 154).

[i] see E. Einberg, op.lit, 2001, pp.143-144