Lanark, a distant view of the old church, Scotland

Details

HUGH WILLIAM 'GRECIAN' WILLIAMS (?DEVON 1773-1829 EDINBURGH)
Lanark, a distant view of the old church, Scotland
inscribed 'VANITAS, VAN/ ITATUM/ OMNIA. EST/ VANITAS' (on a tombstone, lower right)
pencil and watercolour
8 1⁄2 x 11 7⁄8 in. (21.6 x 30.2 cm.)

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 5 March 1974, lot 121 (90 gns to Browne).
Anonymous sale; Christie's, 7 April 1998, lot 31.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

quotation on the gravestone is from Ecclesiastes, Book I, verse ii, and reads 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity'. Dr Joe Rock has dated this drawing to 1797.

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