Cheshire Antiques Consultant Ltd has dated this Antique Watercolour Portrait Painting to the 19th Century.
Subject & Medium
Circle of William Egley (1798–1870), English School
Watercolour and gouache on paper laid on panel.
An exceptionally refined family portrait showing the three daughters of Louisa Charlotte Devonsher (née Cooke, 1797–1871), the only child of Captain John Cooke, RN, one of the two British captains killed at the Battle of Trafalgar. Almost certainly painted for the family home, Donhead Lodge, Donhead St Andrew, Wiltshire, it is both an intimate record of domestic affection and a visual monument to one of Britain’s great naval heroes.
Composition & Technique
The youngest child, about three years old, sits at the centre on the sofa cushion, her rounded features and deeper cornflower-blue gown suggesting tender youth and spontaneity. To the left, a sister of nine or ten sits demurely, hands folded in her lap, her dress a paler sky-blue; to the right, the eldest (around eleven or twelve) stands easily but proudly at the sofa arm in a more saturated periwinkle tone, her posture quietly authoritative.
All three wear pale blue silk gowns trimmed with fine white lace. The two elder sisters are adorned with blue ribbon chokers bearing small gold lockets and coral bead bracelets, while the youngest, unadorned, embodies the ideal of unspoiled childhood. Each girl holds a blush-pink rose, petals shaded from shell pink to soft carmine; these roses echo the crimson upholstery and rhythmically tie the colour scheme together.
Executed in transparent watercolour with delicate gouache heightening, the artist has modelled the faces with translucent pinks and warm ochres, and the hair in chestnut and golden curls. The neutral brown-grey ground is almost abstract in its simplicity, pushing the figures gently forward and bathing them in a soft, natural light. The handling is confident yet restrained – a textbook example of the English provincial watercolour school at the transition from the late Regency to the early Victorian period.
About the Sitters & Captain John Cooke
The sitters are identified as the three daughters of Louisa Charlotte Devonsher (née Cooke) and her husband Abraham Devonsher of Cheltenham:
Louisa Cornelia Devonsher (b. c.1822; later Mrs Edward Helsham)
Augusta Sarah Devonsher (b. c.1823; later Mrs Edward Rolles)
Sophia Margaret Devonsher (b. c.1830; later Mrs Robert Dwarris Gibney)
Through their mother, these girls were the granddaughters and only direct descendants of Captain John Cooke, RN (1762–1805) and his wife Louisa Hardy (1764–1853).
Born in Devon to a family of landowners and shipowners, John Cooke entered the navy under the patronage of Sir Alexander Hood and was educated at Mr Braken’s Naval Academy, Greenwich. He saw service in the American War of Independence (including the Battles of Rhode Island and the Saintes), and in the French Revolutionary Wars commanded the frigates HMS Nymphe and HMS Amethyst.
In 1805 he was appointed to the 74-gun HMS Bellerophon. At Trafalgar, on 21 October 1805, Cooke fought a fierce close-quarters action with the French Aigle and was mortally wounded by musket fire. He reputedly gave the defiant order “Don’t strike the colours” as he fell – a phrase that passed into naval legend. When his body was searched, an unsent letter was found in his pocket, affectionately mentioning his young daughter Louisa Charlotte and the family dog, Mr Quiz – a fragment of domestic tenderness preserved amid the carnage of battle.
In recognition of his sacrifice, Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund presented his widow Louisa Hardy Cooke with a large silver vase and a pension of £200 per annum, while Louisa Charlotte received a gold medal and a pension of £50 pe
Cheshire Antiques Consultant Ltd has dated this Antique Watercolour Portrait Painting to the 19th Century.
Source the historic in 17th, 18th, 19th & 20th century fine arts, painting, sculptures & collectibles
You can view the stock and full dealer information on the Cheshire Antiques Consultant Ltd Profile Page
Painting Louisa Cooke’s Three Daughters, C.1833 circle of William Egley (1798–1870), English School
