Whylock Pendavis Basilica of Saint-Denis, Paris

Fin-de-siècle Paris: Whylock Pendavis (1852–1924)

This sketch forms part of a collection of pictures that we have for sale drawn in 1894 by the British clergyman Whylock Pendavis (1852–1924). There is little biographical record of Pendavis. He was born in Fowey, Cornwall, to Lieutenant Frederick Whylock Davis (1820–1874) and had a brother, William Frederick Pen Davis (b.1843), a doctor who became resident medical officer at Salford Union Workhouse. In 1879 Whylock is listed as Curate of St James at Collyhurst near Manchester. In the 1880s he served as reverend at St John's Church in Moka, Mauritius.

Whylock Pendavis evidently had a lively mind and talented hand. His observational sketches capture the energy of a city that was at the epicentre of modernity. From the 1850s onwards, the visionary programme of urban renovation carried out by Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann was transforming Paris into the City of Light. Pendavis's subjects include depictions of iconic buildings, such as the recently completed Eiffel Tower, and resplendent church architecture, as well as the city's new parks, gardens and squares, that provided new urban spaces for public recreation. His drawings include character studies of the burgeoning bourgeoisie, along with studies capturing military figures of the old Napoleonic guard. He also engages with the artistic life of the city, documenting theatre performances and visits to the Louvre, whose collection expanded rapidly in the late 19th century in line with the city's new cultural preeminence.