Robert Hills OWS (1769-1844) - The Town Mills, St Saviour, Jersey

Robert Hills was a founding member of the OWS and is best known for his paintings of animals, and in the field he was largely self-taught, working from nature. [1]
 
This drawing of the town mills, St Saviour in Jersey is a particularly interesting work by the artist. He was known to have been in Jersey in 1831, 1833 and 1837 when he stayed there with his brother, Tom's, widow Mary. Philip Stevens, a local expert on artists who painted in Jersey, says that there are only a couple of fully worked up watercolours by Hills of Jersey scenes and he had logged about 24 works by the artist of Jersey scenes. Many of these are in museum collections such as the Yale Center for British Art, making our work particularly interesting. Although not worked up to a finished picture, Hills has used some watercolour and monochrome shading to add detail to the composition.
 
Medium: pencil and watercolour with wash over ink, on paper, inscribed l.l. 'St Saviour...from height of the Town Mills', 11.9 x 18cm, framed (17.7 x 33.3cm).
 
Provenance: Appleby Bros (according to label verso); private collection Jersey.
 
Bibliography:
 
[1] Huon Mallieu (2002), 'The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists up to 1920: Volume I A-L', Antique Collectors Club: Woodbridge, pp.311-312. See entry on artist.
 
Condition report: generally good for its age. There is general time staining with a couple of small foxing marks. There are also a couple of vertical crease marks that are not obvious unless viewed up close. The frame shows a small amount of wear. Please see photos.