Oil painting, View in Osterley Park with Two Children, attributed to Anthony Devis, British school, ca. 1784

View of Osterley Park House, with a river flowing diagonally, and two children and cattle in the foreground.

Purchased as Lot 129 at Christies, 15th July 1949

This painting by Anthony Devis shows a south-westerly view of Osterley Park after the major refurbishment by the great Neo-classical architect, Robert Adam (1728-92), between 1761-83. Adam retained parts of the original Tudor structure and the distinctive Tudor turrets that rise above the roof-line are clearly visible. Also prominent, is one of the three long, narrow lakes that were an amalgamation of the Tudor ponds and canals and were cleverly juxtaposed to give the impression of a river wrapping around the house. This lake bisects the painting in a diagonal direction and is an effective means of organising the compositional details of the landscape view.

Devis painted a pendant, View of Osterley Park from the East, museum number P.22-1949, also in the V&A collection. Both paintings are thought to have been painted in 1784, presumably to commemorate the completion of the Adam changes, and were probably commissioned by Mrs Sarah Child (1741-93), the widow of Robert Child (1739-82). The attribution to Anthony Devis has been contested (Eileen Harris, Osterley Park, Middlesex, The National Trust, 1994), although there is no evidence to the contrary.

Toledo Museum of Art has two drawings by Devis (Osterley from the Southeast, Object Number 1949.87; Osterley from the Southwest, Object Number 1949.88). These are almost identical in composition to the two V&A paintings and are presumably preparatory studies for them. Two watercolours by Devis, dated 1757, of the well-known menagerie at Osterley Park, are in a private collection (Eileen Harris, p.75).

Osterley Park House was built in the 1570s by Sir Thomas Gresham (1519?-1579), founder of the Royal Exchange. After a period of neglect, the house came into the Child family when it was bought by Sir Francis Child (1642- 1713) from the executors of Dr. Nicholas Barbon. It was Child’s grandsons, Francis Child (1735-63) and Robert Child (1739-82) respectively, who initiated and almost completed the great building operations that transformed the Tudor house into a monument of eighteenth-century classicism, employing Robert Adam in 1761 to reconstruct it. After Robert Child’s death in 1782, the house was maintained by his widow, Mrs Sarah Child, until his granddaughter and heir, Sarah Sophia Fane (1785-1867), was deemed of age to inherit. As Sarah had married George Villiers, who succeeded in 1805 as the fifth Earl of Jersey, Osterley passed into the Jersey family. In 1949 the Osterley estate was given by the 9th Earl of Jersey to the National Trust, and the Victoria & Albert Museum was charged with the management and showing of the house to the public.

The V&A bought this painting and its pendant, lots 129 and 130, as well as the furnishings and furniture of Osterley Park, in the Christies sale of the contents of Osterley Park on 15th July 1949. The Museum subsequently retained these at the house on long-term loan. More recently, whilst this arrangement still continues, the National Trust undertook to manage the entire Osterley estate.

Anthony Devis was the half-brother of Arthur Devis (c.1711-1787), and should not be confused with his nephew Thomas Anthony Devis (1757-1810). The large number of Anthony Devis’s drawings in public and private collections throughout England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, testify to his extensive travels as a topographical artist. He exhibited a small number of paintings at the Free Society of Artists and the Royal Academy of Art between 1761 and 1781.

This view of Osterley Park was probably commissioned by Mrs Sarah Child (1741-93), the widow of Robert Child (1739-82) and is based on a drawing (Object Number 1949.88), in the Toledo Museum of Art. Devis is better known as a topographical draughtsman and the large number of his drawings in public collections throughout the United Kingdom testify to his extensive travels. He exhibited a small number of paintings at the Free Society of Artists and the Royal Academy of Art between 1761 and 1781.

P.21-1949