This is a very unusual little Victorian watercolour dating to the 1890s. It looks much more modernist in design and style and definitely not like a 19th-century painting.
It is signed lower right: Carleton Grant and dated 1894.
His watercolours are often highly individual in nature - and he has obviously been looking at some of Whistler's Nocturnes for inspiration in themes and the use of a muted palette of grey and greens. This stylised English Impressionist landscape scene shows an evening in a village courtyard. The roofs of houses in the background catch the last glimpses of the sun at twilight and the walls are cast in dark angular shadows. Two little boys are shown in the foreground playing marbles - they are playing intently and trying to catch every last bit of daylight before darkness completely descends and ends the game. Grant excelled at capturing the atmosphere of twilight scenes.
The work is signed and dated lower right. The image is 14.3 x 23.5 cm and the frame size is 36.5 x 44 cm. The frame and window mount are original to the picture - and there is a decorative window mount with drawn borders highlighted with gold around the image. The watercolour is in excellent antique condition with no damage - and there is no fading of the colours. It is a particularly attractive work by Grant - and his is reflected in my asking price. It certainly looks very fine on display on your wall.
BIOGRAPHY: Thomas Carleton Grant (1858 - 1899) was born in Liverpool to Irish parents. He came late to painting and it is not known what formal training he had received. In 1885, he began to exhibit at the open shows of modern pictures at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. He is documented as living at Liscard, on the Wirral (1888), and then in Rhyl (from 1890), In April 1891, Grant was staying at Bay View Cottage, Ty Gwyn Road, Llandudno. His intimate watercolour paintings document his movements around the southern counties of England and North Wales. He seems to have had a touch of itchy feet - and liked to move about quite frequently.
In 1895, he was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists, and he also was a member of the Oxford Society of Artists. His work was much admired by Queen Victoria and she is recorded as buying two of them.
He died at a relatively young age on the Isle of Wight from tuberculosis in 1899.
The watercolour will be carefully packed and sent to you with either Royal Mail or Parcelforce24 recorded delivery in the UK This will be priced at £10 and applied to your order at the checkout.