Lot 20: John William North, A.R.A., R.W.S. (1842-1924)

John William North, A.R.A., R.W.S. (1842-1924)
Spring in a western orchard
signed with intials and dated 'J.W. North A.R.A. 1904' (lower right)
watercolour with gum arabic and scratching out
18½ x 24 3/8 in. (47 x 61.9 cm.)

London, Old Watercolour Society, Summer 1899, no.92, subtitled 'Far from the Smoke of the Town'

with Agnew's, London.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 18 November, lot 176, as 'Figures by a Farm Pond'.
Miss Sylvia Aldburgham; Sotheby's, Belgravia, 29 June 1976, lot 290, as 'The Apple Tree'.
with Abbott and Holder, London, 1976.

J.W. North is one of the most original and idiosyncratic of the late Victorian watercolourists. He belonged to a group of artists who came to prominence in the 1860s as leading contributors to the revival of illustration. First apprenticed to the wood-engraver to T.H. Whymper he then worked for the Dalziel brothers and provided illustrations for publications such as Wayside Posies, 1867.

As North's style developed he complemented the meticulous detail of his early work with a freer and more poetic approach which was reflected in his atmospheric and often whimisical compositions. North was elected a full member of the Old Watercolour Society in 1883, ten years later he became an associate of the Royal Academy.