Tree Study. Black and white chalk on paper. Simple sketch depicts a leafy tree on speckled blue paper. Verso has inscriptions in brown ink, on upper left corner, 1803 and 1806 with the last name Daniel. In left corner, in different hand, "Common __ for Painting". Measures apprx 9-1/4"H x 7-1/4"W.
Drawing lessons from a local Staffordshire landscape painter named Rogers led the young De Wint to abandon plans for a medical career, and in 1802 he was apprenticed for seven years to John Raphael Smith. A fellow apprentice was William Hilton, who became a lifelong friend and whose sister De Wint married in 1810. From the first De Wints taste seems to have been for landscape, and his progress in that line is indicated by his arrangement with Smith in 1806 to be released from the remaining years of his indenture in exchange for 18 landscape paintings in oils. In November 1806 De Wint and Hilton moved into lodgings in Broad Street, Golden Square, London, where they were neighbours of John Varley. Acquaintance with Varley and involvement with the circle of Dr. Thomas Monro must have determined De Wints adoption of watercolour and introduced him to the drawings of Thomas Girtin, which later influenced his own work in the medium. He enrolled as a student in the Royal Academy Schools in 1809 and was admitted to the Life School in 1811.
600/900 Sold $86.25
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