Sir William Blake Richmond (1842-1921)
A Wood near Volterra, Italy
£6,400
Christie's, King Street, 17 Jan 1969, lot 115
Private Collection, USA
Royal Academy, 1886, no 847
This painting is one of a small group of Egyptian views by Ditchfield, a well travelled semi-amateur painter, who studied at Leigh’s Academy and, from 1861, at the Royal Academy Schools. His paintings are usually on a small scale and on panel, suggesting that they were done in the open air. They have distinctive, short brushstrokes and an open light. Our picture is comparable to one with the same title in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Both pictures were painted during a tour of Spain, Algeria and Cairo which Ditchfield made in 1872-1874. The V&A painting was exhibited in 1874 and 1875, but our picture was shown at the RA in 1886, two years before the artist’s death.
