The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Luton Park, Bedfordshire

1760s

Paul Sandby

(British, 1731–1809)

England, 18th century

watercolor over pencil, heightened with bodycolor and pen and gray ink on laid paper

Sheet: 45.1 x 100.4 cm (17 3/4 x 39 1/2 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2022.94

Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The Earl of Bute, owner of the estate depicted in this watercolor, was the favorite minister of King George III of England.

Description

Paul Sandby’s Luton Park, Bedfordshire, belongs to a set of twelve views commissioned by John, 3rd Earl of Bute (1713–1792) in the mid-1760s. After a period of public life, Bute retreated to the country, purchasing Luton Park north of London, and commissioning Paul Sandby to make watercolors recording the estate’s buildings and grounds. In Sandby’s subtle but luminous style, the present drawing depicts the fields outside the estate’s Palladian-style gatehouse, which appears on the right, nestled among trees. Wheat fields and trees populate the distant vista, and, in the center, one sees a view of the Luton castle. The work stayed together with all twelve of Sandby’s drawings in an album at Luton Park until it was discovered in 1996.

?-2022
(Sotheby's, London, England), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
September 12, 2022-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Christie, Manson & Woods. Works of Art from the Bute Collection. 1996. p. 202-203, lot 109
Sotheby's (Firm). Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries. 2022. Lot 48
{{cite web|title=Luton Park, Bedfordshire|url=false|author=Paul Sandby|year=1760s|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.94