HOME ABOUT ARTISTS EXHIBITIONS CONTACT TERMS &
CONDITIONS
EDWARD DUNCAN R.W.S. (1803 – 1882)
“Fishermen in a Punt entering Goring Lock with Mill
& Church beyond”
Watercolour heightened with white. Signed &
dated 1859 in pencil
12” x 18 5/8” (305mm x 473mm)
Overall framed size 20 ¾” x 27 7/8” (527mm x 708mm) IMAGE
In 1859, the year of this watercolour, Roget’s
“History of the Old Watercolour Society” records Edward Duncan “travelling by
boat up the Thames with the artist James Chisolm, where he encountered the
artists George Haydock Dodgson, George Arthur Fripp
and Edward Field and others similarly employed in painting the Thames scenery.”
Edward
Duncan was apprenticed to the elder and younger Robert Havells, the Aquantint Engravers and later engraved coaching and marine
prints for “Fores of Piccadilly”, the publishers of
sporting prints. He was commissioned to produce many illustrations and a number of his drawings were engraved on wood for the
Illustrated London News. He is perhaps best known for his marine and
coastal paintings as well as a series of views on the Thames. He was introduced
to marine painting by William Huggins, whose paintings he engraved and whose
daughter he married. He began exhibiting in 1830 mainly with the Royal
Watercolour Society, of which he was a Member, but also at the Royal Academy, the
British Institute and the Suffolk Street Galleries. In 1834 he became a
member of the New Watercolour Society but in 1847 he resigned to become an
Associate of the Old Watercolour Society, rising to full Membership in
1849. He travelled mainly in the Southern Counties and
also in Wales, Scotland, the Channel Islands and Holland. In 1865
he visited Venice, Rome and Naples. Mallalieu,
in his “Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists”,
describes Duncan’s Thames views as “peaceful in the extreme with
punts, cattle and perhaps a distant church tower as the main points of
interest.” His work can be found in the collections of
the British Museum; Victoria and Albert Museum; Haworth Art Gallery,
Accrington; Blackburn Art Gallery; Cartwright Hall, Bradford and Glasgow Art
Gallery.
