James Ward, R.A.

Given by the artist to Mary Ann Garle (1788-1862), Hamilton Terrace, London, 10 April 1818;

By whose executors sold ("The Property of the late Thomas Garle, Esq."), London, Christie's, 24 May 1862, lot 31;

Where acquired by "Capp," for £2.4;

John Allnut (1773-1863), Clapham Common;

His estate sale, London, Christie's, 19 June 1863, lot 217;

Where acquired by "Cox," for £15;

Desmond FitzGerland, Knight of Glin, Limerich, Ireland;

With Lowell Libson, London, by 2013 and until at least 2017;

Thereafter acquired by the present owner.

Breadth & Quality: Oil Studies, Watercolours & Drawings by James Ward RA, exhibition catalogue, London 2013, pp. 42, 45, cat. no. 36, reproduced;

E. Nygren, "James Ward, RA (1769-1859): Papers and Patrons," in Walpole Society 75 (2013), pp. 36, 70 note 80;

R. Wilson-North, John Knight of Wolverley and Simonsbath: An Outline Biography, Exmoor 2017, pp. 14, 26, reproduced.

This dynamic oil sketch served as the modello for The Pool of Bethesda, a monumental painting measuring approximately eight feet high by over ten feet wide, commissioned by John Knight of Lea Castle. Knight, an important patron who owned several works by James Ward, was also a member of the panel of the British Institution that later awarded Ward the prestigious commission to paint The Battle of Waterloo. The finished Pool of Bethesda was among six works exhibited by Ward at the British Institution in 1818, underscoring the ambition of the project and the artist’s standing at the height of his career. The present modello was subsequently exhibited by Ward at his studio and exhibition rooms in London in 1822, where it functioned both as a record of the larger work and as a display of the artist’s pictorial invention.