JOHN KEYSE SHERWIN (1751-1790)

A PAIR OF ROUNDELS - THE FIRST A FEMALE FIGURE ON A CLOUD, THE SECOND CUPID & PSYCHE
Pastels with chalk on paper
⌀ 33 cm
 
PROVENANCE:
With Francis Harvey, St James's St., London
 
 
 
 
Previously mistaken for engravings with hand-colouring, these charming works are in fact drawings in chalk and pastel, a medium which Sherwin often worked in, particularly early on in his career when he began exhibiting at the Royal Academy (1770-1777 & 1780). 
 
 
John Sherwin was born in East Dean, on the coast in Sussex, where his father worked as a wood-cutter employed by local shipbuilders. John was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps, until his landlord William Mitford spotted the young boy’s aptitude for copying miniatures, whereupon he was sent to London to study under John Astley and, more importantly, in the studio of Francesco Bartolozzi. Following his training, Sherwin enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools, where he won a silver and later a gold medal, for his painting of ‘Coriolanus taking leave of his family’ (1772). 
 
The first six years of his professional career saw him exhibiting chalk drawings such as the present works, which were heavily indebted to his old teacher Bartolozzi, both in their subject matter - often copies after Guido Reni and other Baroque Italian masters - and their execution. He swiftly became a fashionable artist, based in St James’s Street off Pall Mall, and his clients included numerous members of the aristocracy and the Princess Royal herself. The engravings he made after his drawings also sold well, providing a steady and substantial income to the young Sherwin.
 
In 1785, he succeeded William Woollett as Engraver to the King, as well as holding the title of Engraver to the Prince of Wales, becoming one of the highest-paid artists of his day. However, he was profligate and, by several contemporary accounts, an indolent character, who wasted his income (£12,000 per annum, a fortune for the time) on gambling and drink. He died in poverty, likely in a sordid alehouse in the City, and his reputation quickly vanished after his death. He was, in spite of this, one of the finest engravers of his day, and the present works are a testament to his early promise as a draughtsman, talents sadly squandered by the end.