Hochkreuz (High Cross), Bad Godesberg, Bonn – Miniature c.1830s watercolour

Anon. Hochkreuz (High Cross), Bad Godesberg, Bonn

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View the full Collection: Miniatures after Prout Stanfield & Bonington: Early 19th-century Watercolours

An original c.1830s watercolour painting Hochkreuz (High Cross), Bad Godesberg, Bonn.

A beautiful composition featuring the Hochkreuz or 'High Cross' on the road between Bonn and Bad Godesberg on the banks of the Rhine in Germany. Finely painted in watercolour, this is likely a scaled down version of a work by Samuel Prout (1783–1852). Prout was a master of watercolour architectural painting, Painter in Water-Colours in Ordinary to King George IV and, later, to Queen Victoria. His picturesque topographical drawings found huge influence as lithographic reproductions in the various illustrated travel books that had become so popular.

The Gothic style Hochkreuz wayside cross was probably donated around 1340 by the Archbishop of Cologne, Walram von Jülich. With the advent of Rhine romanticism towards the end of the 18th century, the Hochkreuz became a much-visited attraction for travellers on the Rhine. After the date of this painting, the cross was substantially restored in 1859 and the cross on the top was removed.

On paper laid down on backing paper.

Miniatures after Prout & Bonington: Early 19th-century Watercolours

This watercolour is one of an exquisite set of miniaturised versions of Continental subjects after leading early 19th-century topographical artists, including Samuel Prout (1783–1852) and Richard Parkes Bonington (1802–1828)—in Italy, Switzerland, France and on the Rhine. Scaled down, they perfectly render the perspective and proportions of the originals that they are after. They are an impressive exercise in technical skill, whilst retaining the atmosphere and sense of place of the original topographical works.

As a collection, these watercolours interestingly show a commonality between these contemporaneous artists and their Continental topographical work—work which was often carried out for reproduction as plate illustrations in the popular landscape annuals of the day. Publications such as 'Heath's Picturesque Annual' (1832–45) and Jennings' 'Landscape Annual' series (1830–39) were a staple trade for aspiring artists of the time. Often called Books of Beauty, these newly popular annuals were lavishly produced, with high quality engravings and expensive bindings. Each illustration would focus on a notable architectural landmark or landscape feature, but equally important in the composition would be commonplace street scenes of old facades and human activity.

The paintings in this collection derive from an album dating from around the 1830s belonging to Edward Garstin (1794–1871), superintendent at Bengal, given to his daughter Louisa Charlotte Garstin in 1855. One of the works in the album is by William Henry Harriott (c.1790–1839) (born in India, whose mother was the talented 18th-century miniaturist Diana Hill (c.1760–1844)), but the author of these miniature watercolours is unconfirmed. It seems probable that the Garstins knew the young Harriott in India.