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Creator:
Henry Pether, active 1828–1865
Title:
Upnor Castle, Kent
Date:
ca. 1850
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
24 1/4 x 36 inches (61.6 x 91.4 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1976.7.139
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B1976.7.139FR
Subject Terms:
boats | castle | cobblestone | country house | dock | fort | genre subject | house | landscape | light | men | night | river | slipway | smoke
Associated Places:
England | Kent | Medway | United Kingdom | Upnor
Access:
Not on view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:359
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In 'Upnor Castle, Kent', Henry Pether (possibly the son of Sebastian Pether, whose 'Moonlight River Scene' also appears in this exhibition) paints a castle that once served as an Elizabethan artillery fort. Originally built to protect the dockyard and ships of the Royal Navy, it later became a naval ammunition depot for gunpowder, ammunition, and cannons. Pether’s depiction captures the passage of time and the changing function of the castle: he does not allude to the strategic role that Upnor Castle once played. Instead, the artist places the castle within an idyllic scene of daily life. Two men dock a boat while puffs of smoke drift out of a chimney on the right. The castle recedes into a moonlit background, a trait for which Pether was well known.

Gallery label for Art in Focus: The British Castle - A Symbol in Stone (Yale Center for British Art, 2017-04-07 - 2017-08-06)

Art in Focus : The British Castle - A Symbol in Stone (Yale Center for British Art, 2017-04-07 - 2017-08-06) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Painting in England 1700-1850 - From The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (Yale University Art Gallery, 1965-04-15 - 1965-06-20) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 178-179, N590.2 A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Painting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , 1,2, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, p. 96 (v.1), no. 149, pl. 150, ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Painting in England 1700-1850 from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, The Royal Academy of Arts Winter Exhibition 1964-65., , Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, 1964, p. 48 (v.1), no. 177, ND466 R68 1964/65 (YCBA) [YCBA]

The British Castle : A Symbol in Stone, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2017, p. 22, cat. 14, V2722 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Yale University Art Gallery, Painting in England, 1700-1850, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon : [exhibition at] Yale University Art Gallery, April 15-June 20, 1965, , vol. 1, W. Clowes and sons, New Haven, 1965, p. 40 (v.1), no. 150, ND466 Y35 (YCBA) [YCBA]


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