Watercolour and pencil on paper

Why we acquired this work

A number of watercolours and drawings believed to be by Edward Rudge were discovered in a drawer at The Herbert in 1974.

Also in the drawer were prints by David Waters, which were linked to items already in the gallery's collection. All are now believed to be part of the Browett Collection. This is a collection of art which came from the house of William Freeman, a local factory owner and patron of Edward Rudge.

The danger of not knowing enough about your art collection was only too evident when it then appeared that other similar watercolours in this collection had been sold off as not of local interest in the days before Herbert experts came on the scene. If anybody knows more about any of these pieces we would love to receive information on them.

The subject

The artist wrote this title for the work in pencil on the back of the watercolour. It is one of a group of watercolours by him which show the rugged coastline of Wales.

A small solitary tower still stands on top of what is almost an island projecting into the sea at Tenby (Dinbych-y-Pyscoed). Stretches of the outer walls remain and so the castle is still much as Rudge showed it here two hundred years ago.

Nowadays there is a lifeboat station at Tenby and people can get up-to-date weather information from a weather buoy situated about six miles south of Tenby. Very popular information for surfers nowadays, as it gives wave heights and spacings!

The artist

The artist was the son of an artist of the same name who was an artist's materials and printseller in Birmingham.

Edward Rudge junior worked in Coventry from around 1807 to 1820, copying views of Coventry for a lavish project to tell the story of the city. From 1824 to 1828 he was art master at Rugby school, after which he moved first to Hillmorton and then to Bedford.

Unfortunately for Edward's fame, his son Bradford Rudge took his father's sketchbooks and put his own name in them to enhance his own reputation. This is particularly unfortunate as Edward (junior) was original in a number of ways, using daringly bright colours (no doubt from his father's shop) and in later works a 'broken' handling of paint which anticipated the Impressionists.

Related works

Other works in this group show Fishguard Harbour; Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire; Harlech Castle; Pistyll Rhaidr, North Wales as well as Boscastle Harbour, Cornwall and ink wash drawings of north Devon.