William Andrews Nesfield (1793–1881) “Mother Faux’s Macaw, Farnley Hall”

William Andrews Nesfield (1793–1881) “Mother Faux’s Macaw, Farnley Hall” A charming 19th-century watercolour depicting a vividly coloured scarlet macaw perched on a wooden stand, titled Mother Faux’s Macaw. The work is finely rendered with Nesfield’s characteristic precision and sensitivity to natural colour.

William Andrews Nesfield (1793–1881) was an English soldier, landscape architect and artist. After a career in the military which saw him serve under the Duke of Wellington, he developed a second profession as a landscape architect, designing some of the foremost gardens of the mid-Victorian era. These included Witley Court in Worcestershire, Castle Howard in Yorkshire, Treberfydd in Powys and Kew Gardens. He also established a professional dynasty; with his sons Arthur Markham and William Eden Nesfield, he developed over 250 landscapes across the United Kingdom. who exhibited at the Royal Academy and created numerous studies of birds and nature for his patrons at Farnley Hall in Yorkshire. 

Walter Hawkesworth, of Farnley Hall also adopted the surname Fawkes, and was known as Walter Ramsden Fawkes. He was MP for Yorkshire in 1806 and was High Sheriff of Yorkshire for 1823. During his tenure a regular visitor was the Victorian artist and philosopher John Ruskin, who was taken with the enormous collection of paintings by J. M. W. Turner, a close friend of the Ramsden Fawkes. Between 1808 and 1824 Farnley was a second home to Turner. Ramsden Fawkes owned over 250 Turner watercolours and six large oil paintings. A selection of Turner's works from the Farnley Hall collection were sold in 1890 for £25,000.

Presented in a gilt frame with a double mount and retaining the original David Ker Fine Art, London label on the reverse.

Medium: Watercolour on paper
Dimensions: 46.5 × 37 cm (framed)
Date: c. 1830–1850
Provenance: David Ker Fine Art, 85 Bourne Street, London SW1
Condition: Minor toning and spotting consistent with age; colours remain strong.