Jonathan Skelton

A Farmstead. Verso: Standing Figure

c.1755

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Jonathan Skelton c.1735–1759
Medium: Graphite and watercolour on paper. Verso: graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 148 × 222 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Purchased as part of the Oppé Collection with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund 1996
Reference: T08473

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Before his departure for Italy late in 1757, Skelton seems to have been a servant in the household of Thomas Herring, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Certainly, the locations depicted in many of his earlier watercolours correspond with the Archbishop's residences - at Lambeth Palace in London, at Rochester on the Medway where he retained the deanery, and at Croydon Palace in Surrey. The exact whereabouts of this view has not been identified. It is very close in handling to the work of the British landscape painter George Lambert, especially in the treatment of foliage. It is possible that Skelton was a pupil of Lambert's, as he makes several references in his correspondence from Italy to a 'Mr Lambert'.

Gallery label, September 2004