Château de Lourdes

William Callow British

Not on view

On June 6, 1836, the twenty-four year old Callow set out from Paris on a two-month walking tour. By early July, he reached the Hautes Pyrénées, and would spend three days around Lourdes, reveling in the wild mountain scenery–at that time, the small town was dominated by a medieval fortress and not yet associated with miraculous healing. Copley Fielding had encouraged Callow’s early talent for watercolor in London and, after the young artist moved to Paris in 1829 to work for Newton Fielding, he became friends with Thomas Shotter Boys and developed a style indebted to Richard Parkes Bonington. This sketch, made on site, demonstrates the artist’s early style characterized by calligraphic lines and luminous washes.

Château de Lourdes, William Callow (British, Greenwich 1812–1908 Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire), Watercolor over graphite, white gouache (bodycolor)

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