William Callow (1812-1908) - Tower on the Vrijdags Markt, Ghent 1851
This superb highly detailed large exhibition watercolour by Callow was produced during the period that many of his best works were painted. Callow in 1850 'made a very interesting excursion through Belgium for the purpose of sketching. We visited Lille, Courtrai, Tournai, Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp. At all these towns I had little time for seeing the sights, as I found so many architectural subjects admirably suited for my pencil.' [1] One of these architectural subjects was the Toreken Tower shown in our watercolour at Vrijdagmarkt in Ghent. The Vrijdagmarkt is one of Belgium's oldest town squares and is named after a market that has been occurring there every Friday since 1199. The Toreken, was the historical home of Tanners Guild in Ghent before Emperor Charles V removed their power and the Toreken gained private ownership. It stood empty after WWII and was left to decay, before being renovated in the 1980s. The Toreken is now owned by a bank and is a cultural venue dedicated to Flemish poetry.
This watercolour was received favourably by the press with The Art Journal saying that 'there are some charming passages of execution in this picture; the tower is round and substantial without appearance of labour, and in every part the drawing will bear scrutiny.” [2] Interestingly, the composition used by Callow for this watercolour, with the market vendors and their wares spread out in the lower right and the Tower just to the left of centre, was repeated almost exactly in the artist’s exhibition piece 'L’Hotel de Ville de Leipzig' several years later in 1854.
Medium: watercolour on paper, signed l.r. 'W. Callow 1851', 75.5 x 57.5 cm, framed.
Exhibited: London, The Society of Painters in Watercolours (O.W.S.), Summer 1851, catalogue number 37.
Provenance: J.M. Hanson, purchased from O.W.S. exhibition in 1851 for £40; Anonymous Sale, Bonham's Fine British and Continental Watercolours and Drawings, London, 7th June 2005, Lot 42; Nonesuch Gallery, 'Travel c.1650-1950 Exhibition', 2022, catalogue number 21; Private collection U.K.
Bibliography:
[1] H.M. Cundall (ed.), William Callow, An Autobiography, London (1908), p.105.
[2] The Art Journal, Vol. III (1851), p.163.
Condition report: generally very good for its age. There is a small amount of general fading, a couple of small foxing marks in the sky close to the main tower and some scratching out in the sky as shown in the photographs (this is how Callow originally would have done the clouds). Please note, the last three photographs of the sky were taken under studio lights, whereas the previous photographs were completed in natural light.