Read the visual description
The image shows a coastal landscape with rocky cliffs, buildings, greenery, and the sea. The horizon is high in the composition, with a distant mountain or hill. The watercolor technique displays subtle brushstrokes and a color palette of earth tones, grays, green, and pale blue-gray.
National Gallery of Art · Drawing
An Italian Coast Scene
John 'Warwick' Smith
- Date
- possibly 1776/1781
- Medium
- watercolor over graphite on laid paper
- Dimensions
- sheet: 38 x 51.4 cm (14 15/16 x 20 1/4 in.)
- Classification
- Drawing
- Accession number
- 2009.70.184
- Credit line
- Joseph F. McCrindle Collection
- Time span
- 1776 to 1800
- Department
- CG-E
Subjects and terms
- Landscape
- Beach
- Mountain
- Building
Provenance
Earl of Warwick (according to inscription), presumably George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick [1746-1816]. Unidentified collector (stamp, TENAX IN FIDE in a scroll beneath a running dog; not in Lugt ). (Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, by 1962). The Ruskin Gallery, Ltd., Stratford-on-Avon, by 1978; Joseph F. McCrindle [1923-2008], New York, 1979; Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation, 2008; gift to NGA, 2009.
Inscription
by unknown hand, upper right verso in graphite: [2?]11; by unknown hand, lower left verso in red crayon: ?J. Smith?; by unknown hand, lower right verso in graphite: Earl of Warwick Collection
Marks
stamped twice with collector's mark of a unicorn or lion above a banderole inscribed TENAX IN FIDE
Watermarks
Strasburg Lily with LVG below (similar to Churchill 413, 414)
NGA object ID 143861. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.