January 2021
William Boxall, RA (1800-1879)
A Rocky Shoreline at Sunset
Watercolour
6½" x 11½"
This watercolour is attributed to William Boxall. It is of interest because of the similarity between its rock complex and 'Squall at St. Vincent's Rock, Bristol'. The distant cliff in the background is similar to JMW Turner's 'Shakespeare's Cliff, Dover' [IMAGE]
This work appeared at auction by Holloway's of Banbury, 18th March 2008, lot 157. Below are three possible influences.
1. Influence of the JMW Turners in Nixon's Collection
No date of painting is available but the focus of attention here is whether the rocky foreground and perhaps even the distant cliff in the background could have been inspired by the Turners in Rev. Robert Nixon's collection and later in the posession of his son Rev. Dr. Francis Russell Nixon. If Boxall was influenced by those Turners this watercolour represents a possible contemporaneous record of a sighting of 'Squall at St. Vincent's Rock, Bristol' being one of those Turners viz: 'The rising squall, hot wells, from St. Vincent's rock, Bristol'. Boxall almost certainly saw these paintings around 1838 to 1842 and possibly much earlier when the collection was with Robert Nixon.
Images are shown here, side by side, to the same scale, 1 pixel representing 2mm.
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These images are clearly not identical. In the panel below it appears that Boxall (left image) has produced a very similar idea of water or possibly sediment flow over the lower curvature of the rock. This could be a reproduction from memory or even a sketch made from the Turner. Boxall's treatment of the dome rock is different but his work was not intended to be a copy.
The other element from the Nixon collection is Shakespeare's Cliff. It must be stated here that Turner painted Shakespeare's Cliff many times and the version found may not be Nixon's painting. Here are the two, side by side, to the same scale as before:
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Again we are not looking at identity just an intimation that Boxall had seen the Turner and had been influenced by it.
2. A Question of Access to JMW Turner's Original Sketches
Turner's watercolour drawings D00389 and D00391 both provide elements seen in 'Squall at St. Vincent's Rock, Bristol'.
D00391 is signed by Turner on the back as if it has perhaps been lent out for later return.and became part of the Turner Bequest. Boxall's distant cliff is a slightly different shape to Turner's distant cliff but it is nevertheless a possible influence.
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More striking is the treatment of the dome rock:
D00389, which depicts the same rock complex as 'Squall at St. Vincent's Rock, Bristol' (from the opposite direction), provides another possible influence. The original D00389 is on the far right whilst the centre image is reversed for comparison with the Boxall.
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3. Dunstanburgh Castle
This is not the RA Exhibit. This is the version printed in Armstrong page 215 from the Milliken collection.
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