Map of Leeds 1815, pop approx 70,000 (about 140,000 in 1836 when Grimshaw born)
Map of Leeds, 1866, pop approx 250,000 (near 400,000 by Grimshaw’s death in 1893)
Charles Henry Schwanfelder, From Leeds towards Armley, Government Art Collection, c.1822
Charles Cope, View of Leeds from the East, c.1826
Alphonse Dousseau, Leeds from Rope Hill, Middleton, 1827-31
Joseph Rhodes, Western Panorama of Leeds 1832
Robert Buttery Leeds, 1833, Thoresby Society
Buttery, detail of Middleton colliery railroad
Buttery, Leeds, detail centre right with Middleton Railway
Thomas Burras, Leeds from the north west, c.1840, Christies 24 November 1998, no.228
19 Springfield Mount, Leeds – the home of Thomas Burras with William Binns
Thomas Burras, Leeds from the West, 1844, Thoresby Society – originally owned by William Binns
Thomas Abiel Prior , Leeds Bridge, 1849
The medieval bridge was replaced by the present cast-iron structure made by John Butler of Stanningley, 1870-3
John Atkinson Grimshaw, Leeds Bridge, 1880, Oil on canvas, 79 x 122 cm, Leeds City Art Gallery.
Leeds Bridge also happens to be the subject of the first ever moving pictures, shot by Louis Le Prince in 1888. It is very likely that Grimshaw and Le Prince met in what appears to have been an extremely progressive intellectual environment in Leeds!
Park Row Leeds, engraving, from the Illustrated London News for 30 May 1868
Boar Lane photograph c.1880
To left Leeds Philosophical Hall, 1819-22 by Robert Dennis Chantrell; to right Beckett’s Bank by Gilbert Scott 1863-7 and demolished 1965, and beyond that St Anne’s Cathedral, opened 1838 and demolished 1904
John Atkinson Grimshaw, Park Row, Leeds (detail), 1882, Leeds City Art Gallery
Boar Lane from Briggate, c.1867
John Atkinson Grimshaw, Boar Lane, Leeds, 1881, oil on canvas, 19 x 30 ins, private collection
John Atkinson Grimshaw, Boar Lane, Leeds, oil on canvas, 48.9 x 76.8 cm, 19 ¼ x 30 ¼ ins, 1882, Leeds City Art Gallery
John Atkinson Grimshaw, Late afternoon at Ritson, Sotheby’s 13 December 2005 lot 4
John Atkinson Grimshaw, Fifty Years Ago, c.1875?, Christie’s 11 November 1999, lot 23
John Atkinson Grimshaw, View from the Castle, Roundhay Park, 1872, Bonhams. 27 Jan 2011 lot 112
Cf Bonhams notes: For similar compositions see Sotheby's London, 11th December, 2007, lot11, and Christie's London, 8th November, 1996, lot 47Alex Robertson suggests that the number can be read as 2 August 1872 which would be consistent with works of this period.These pictures of Roundhay Park, Leeds date from the time the park was being acquired from its private owners by Leeds Town Council. Grimshaw was commissioned by the town to show the park to a committee of the House of Commons in order to promote a bill which Leeds hoped would persuade the committee to agree to its taking over the land as a public park and for some element of building. The series of views of Roundhay were completed in 1872 and it is likely that this picture was one of them.It was quite a clever idea to show the park by moonlight thus increasing its romantic and poetic appeal.The lake had been created from a quarry by soldiers returning to the area after the Napoleonic wars and was named Waterloo after the famous battle ground.Another feature of the landscape around the family home was a folly in the form of part of a ruined medieval castle.For Grimshaw with his love of Arthurian legend this was a heaven sent opportunity. It also coincided with his new interest in light effects to create a poetic landscape full of mystery. These views have remained popular since the day they were painted.We are grateful to Alex Robertson for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Moonlihght on Waterloo Lake, Roundhay Park, 1872, Christie’s 3 September 2008, lot 167
John Atkinson Grimshaw, Waterloo Lake, Roundhay Park, 1877,
John Atkinson Grimshaw, Roundhay Lake, 1893, Sotheby’s, 13 July 2010, lot 111
Briggate, 1881, engraving
Briggate, c.1881
John Atkinson Grimshaw, Briggate (oil over photo), c.1880, 12 x 18 ins, Christie’s 8 June 2006, lot 208
