Early Landscapes
1.1 Thorpe Cloud, Dovedale, Rev J L Petit
c1830s, 24x30cm, watercolour on paper, private collection
This view seems to have been taken from the terrace at the Izaak Walton Hotel, then a popular tourist inn as now. Petit did a large number of Dovedale views from trips prior to 1840, some are in Petit’s Tours of Old Staffordshire.
1.2 Near Folkestone, Rev JL Petit
c1828, 12x18cm, watercolour on paper, private collection
Folkestone looking east with the Parish Church of St Mary and St Eanswythe and the pier in the far distance which was built in 1810. This, and the album from which it comes is exceptional for its bright colour. The album includes at least 20 pictures from the Kent coast, dateable between 1824 and 1835 by the architecture. Petit married at Wye Church, Kent in June 1828 just before taking up his position at Bradfield.
1.3. Tutbury Castle, Rev JL Petit
c1830s, 20x26cm, watercolour on paper, private collection
On the Staffordshire Derbyshire border, showing De Wint influence.
1.4 Near Tixall, Staffordshire, Rev J L Petit
c1825-35, 15x22cm, watercolour on paper, private collection.
Tixall is just east of Stafford where Petit also painted the gateway shown on the homepage. Here, taken from the canal side, the turrets are just visible on the left. This picture is also in Petit’s Tours of Old Staffordshire, and the exact spot where they were drawn can still be visited today.
1.5 Peveril Castle, Derbyshire, Rev J L Petit
c1830s, 25x18cm, watercolour on paper, private collection
Also Derbyshire, capturing the ruined castle from the foot of the ravine below.
1.6 Beaumanor, Leicestershire Rev J L Petit
c1835, 12x18cm, watercolour on paper, private collection.
The Petits visited with the owners, but this is clearly not a commissioned study of a big house, but capturing the effect in a vignette
1.7 On The Trent, Staffordshire, Rev J L Petit
c1837-42, 30x22cm, watercolour on paper, private collection.
Many of Petit’s best landscapes are from Staffordshire in the late 1830s. Some are quite experimental in how he treats trees and tries to capture storm or light effects, see 1.11 below. A few like this of the Essex Bridge at Great Heywood are quite classical.
1.8 Near Wootton, Staffordshire, Rev J L Petit
1838, 18x13cm, watercolour on paper, private collection.
Wootton Lodge lies underneath the Weaver Hills, shown in the distance, near the Dove Valley. An unusual landscape for Petit, starting a more colourful phase. See Falaise Castle from the following year in France (see 3.1 below).