John Spink

The coming BADA Fair runs from Wednesday 15 to Tuesday 21st March 2017
It is the second year under new management and is shaping up to be a very good show indeed. I hope as usual to be exhibiting about thirty to forty high quality English watercolours, at my usual stand B32. In addition this year I have been asked to organise the BADA loan exhibition. Some of you may remember four years ago I help showcase William Payne at the fair . I also published a book on William Payne with David Japes. This coming March I hope to publish another book but this time on Prout, to coincide with show. The Prout watercolours have been kindly loaned from private collections across Europe . The title of the exhibition will be 'Samuel Prout- A Grand Tour in Watercolour.

A master of watercolour, Prout was born in Plymouth and developed his eye for architectural detail whilst sketching the cottages, watermills and bridges of rural Devon. However, it was not until his first visit to the continent in 1818 that Prout truly discovered his forte.
Captivated by the quaint streets and market-places of Europe’s major cities and ports, Prout was able to capture their architectural features with a skill and diligence that no previous watercolourist had managed before.
His vibrant cityscapes earned Prout wide critical acclaim and he was rewarded with the title of ‘Painter in Water-Colours in Ordinary’ to King George IV in 1829, and later Queen Victoria.
At the time of his death in 1852 there were few cities in Italy, France, Germany, Belgium or the Netherlands that Prout had not visited and illustrated in his own incomparable style.
‘A Grand Tour in Watercolour’ brings together over 20 of Samuel Prout’s finest works. The exhibition will include examples of his celebrated large scale landscapes of Venice in which he expertly contrasts the city’s architectural splendour with the bustling energy of a Mediterranean trade hub.
Sourced from private collections across the world, the exhibition marks the first time that many of the featured works have been on public display for over 50 years.
I would like to thank the generous collectors who have helped me assemble this exceptional collection of Samuel Prout’s work.
John Spink

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