An original early 19th-century watercolour painting, Attrib. Samuel Prout OWS, Cathedral Ruins, Rouen, France.

This fine topographical watercolour displays the distinctive precision and flair of Samuel Prout (1783–1852), one of the masters of British watercolour architectural painting, who was Painter in Water-Colours in Ordinary to King George IV, 1829, and afterwards to Queen Victoria.

The elaborate tracery and monumental statues of the extant cathedral at Rouen are cast in dramatic light, with figures gathered characteristically in the foreground, their unfamiliar regional costumes bringing local flavour to the scene. Prout first travelled to Normandy and up the Seine in 1819, on holiday from Dr Glennie's Academy. He exhibited the resulting pictures at the Society of Painters in Water-Colours in Bond Street in 1820 and Rouen with its many old buildings was the richest of his subjects.

Prout remained steadfast in his commitment to topographical watercolours and the depiction of architecture, treating the subject with a Romanticism akin to that of his landscape artist contemporaries. Describing ecclesiastical buildings in 'Sketches at Home and Abroad' (1844) he says: 'they are landmarks of the inheritance of our forefathers; every stone, to a reflective mind, awakens thoughts which ennoble and instruct, impressing the soul with lofty feelings. They are temples, beautiful in death, and well suited for the devotion of an enthusiastic artist.’

Provenance: from an album of drawings associated with Sir William Vernon Guise, 4th Baronet (1816–1887) and his circle.

In watercolour with pen and ink.