Oil painting entitled 'Sunset - a Sketch' by Richard Parkes Bonington. Great Britain, ca. 1820s.

Oil on millboard depicting a landscape with sunset

Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857

Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857 as part of his collection of 233 oils and 298 watercolours, etchings and drawings

John Sheepshanks (1787-1863), art collector, was the son of the wealthy cloth manufacturer and merchant Joseph Sheepshanks. John succeeded his father in the family firm of York and Sheepshanks in Leeds. After his retirement from business in 1827, John Sheepshanks moved to London. He made several trips to the Continent but lived relatively modestly. Apart from art, Sheepshanks was interested in gardening and was a member of both the Royal Horticultural Society and the Athenaeum Club. Sheepshanks liked to pursue his interest in art by entertaining painters and engravers at informal Wednesday “at homes”.

Sheepshanks began his interest in art through collecting books of Dutch and Flemish prints. Before he moved to London he made purchases at the Northern Society in Leeds. In London he actively patronized artists including Landseer, Mulready, Leslie, Callcott and Cooke. His taste was for contemporary early Victorian cabinet pictures of anecdotal, sentimental, and instructive subjects, as well as scenes from literature. His collection was unique for its time being the only large scale one of contemporary British paintings. He gave his collection of 233 oils and 298 watercolours, etchings and drawings to the South Kensington museum in 1857 (see departmental file on Sheepshanks). The deed of gift stipulated that “a well-lighted and otherwise suitable” gallery should be built to house his collection near the buildings of the Science and Art department on the South Kensington Site. This followed Sheepshanks’ wish to create a ‘gallery of British art’. The Sheepshanks Gallery was opened in 1857.

A group of trees on the left and right of the painting frame the golden sun, reflected in the river, as it sets. Sunset appears to be based on a French location that was adapted to the landscape that Bonington saw on his visit to Italy in 1826. The tranquil mood and the feathery reflection of the trees in the water recall a similar treatment used by Turner in his scenes of the river Thames from the 1820’s. Bonington probably first became aware of the work of Turner during his visit to London in 1825.

The painting came into John Sheepshanks’ collection from that of George Cooke, who had himself collaborated with Turner on a number of engraving projects. It was left by Sheepshanks as part of his bequest to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1857.

FA.1[O]