Enfilade

Lot 2143: J.M.W. Turner, Charles Monro’s House at Finchley, 1793–94, 22 × 29 cm
(Estimate: £30,000–50,000)

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From the press release (via Art Daily) for the sale:

Fine Art and Silver
Ewbank’s, Surrey, 22 June 2023

An early watercolour by J.M.W. Turner, consigned by the descendants of the patron for whom it was painted, comes to auction at Ewbank’s in Surrey on 22 June 2023 (Lot 2143: estimated at £30,000–50,000). Charles Monro’s House at Finchley (1793–94) is a signed corner view of an imposing mansion set among trees. It depicts the home of the brother of Turner’s patron Dr. Thomas Monro (1759–1833), a serious collector who also supported Peter De Wint, Thomas Girtin, and John Sell Cotman, among others, and established an academy and what became known as ‘The Monro Circle’ of artists. Dr. Monro rose to prominence, not just as a patron and art collector, but also as one-time consulting physician to King George III.

The painting, whose subject was the home of Dr. Monro’s elder brother Charles, passed to Charles’s son and namesake, before descending through the family to the current day. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1887 and in the Monro Academy Exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1976. The house is identified by a signed inscription to the reverse of the artwork by his son, the younger Charles, reading: “Original drawing of my father’s House Nether Street Finchley made for him about the year 1793 or 4. Charles Monro.” The reverse of the frame bears an inscription by Robert W. Monro, nephew of the younger Charles Monro and the son of Thomas Monro, dated 23rd July 1874 and alluding to the main inscription by Charles Monro to the reverse.

Partner Andrew Ewbank said: “This is a delightful painting packed with detail and character, as well as demonstrating considerable draughtsmanship. Turner would have been about 18 when he painted it, and his assured hand in its composition makes this an important historical document in the story of the artist, as its inclusion in distinguished public exhibitions has shown.”