1776. Gouache and watercolour with traces of black chalk. 37.6 x 63.8 cm. Signed and dated Van Blarenberghe, 1776.

Provenance: Baron Mayer de Rothschild until 1865; Given to his daughter Hannah Countess of Rosebery and Archibal Philip, 5th Earl of Rosebery; By descent to the 6th Earl of Rosebery, Mentmore; Mentmore sale, Buckinghamshire, Sotheby’s 1977, Lot 2614

This large landscape is a collaborative work between father and son. Henry-Joseph began to work as an independent artist around 1769, the year his father travelled to Russia. Early in 1773 Louis-Nicolas, his son and the future general Alexander Berthier left for Brest. From then until the 1780s father and son worked so closely together that their styles are virtually indistinguishable. In 1777, the year after the present work was made, Henri-Joseph was appointed “Maitre a dessiner” to the children of the Comte d’Artois, brother of Louis XVI.

In its original mid nineteenth-century presentation and framing. The verso still bears the label of Archibal Philip 5th Earl of Rosebery, during whose premiership from 1894-5 the picture was hanging at 10 Downing Street.