ADAM'S Country House Collections Day II - 28th April 2026

15 Country House Collections | 27 th - 28 th April 2026 418 ROBERT DIGHTON (1752-1814) The Contrast Pen, black ink and watercolour, heightened with bodycolour on laid paper 34.1 x 25cm Signed and inscribed Provenance: Carington Bowles (1724-1793), by descent, sale, Sotheby’s, London, 30 April 1953, lot 464 (as an album); with The Sabin Galleries, London; Jeffrey Rose, his exec- utor’s sale, Sotheby’s, London, 23 February 1978, lot 97; with Abbott & Holder, London; The collection of Michael Winner (1935-2013); sale, Sotheby’s, London, 3 July 2013, lot 161 (part), where acquired by the present owner € 1,500 - 2,000 419 ROBERT DIGHTON (1752-1814) ‘Tally Ho!’ Pen, black ink and watercolour, heightened with bodycolour on laid paper, 33.6 x 25.2cm Signed and inscribed Provenance: Carington Bowles (1724-1793), by descent, sale, Sotheby’s, London, 30 April 1953, lot 464 (as an album); with The Sabin Galleries, London; Jeffrey Rose, his executor’s sale, Sotheby’s, London, 23 February 1978, lot 17; with Abbott & Holder, London; The collection of Michael Winner (1935-2013); sale, Sotheby’s, London, 3 July 2013, lot 164 (part), where acquired by the present owner € 1,500 - 2,000 Robert Dighton (1752-1814) was an English portrait painter, printmaker and caricaturist. Born in London, he was the son of the print seller, John Dighton. He studied at the Royal Academy School from 1770 and began his artistic career working for publisher Caring- ton Bowles. Much of his early work was issued anon- ymously, however, by the early 1790s he had estab- lished a reputation sufficient to publish etchings under his own name. He was prolific watercolourist, special- ising in portraiture and social satire. The present wa- tercolours are likely preparatory works for mezzotints published by Bowles. Dighton’s satirical caricatures depict figures across so- ciety from lawyers, military officers and actors to mar- ginal figures encountered in life. The present artwork (lot 418) depicts a lively tavern interior, in which a fash- ionably dressed, slender Frenchman appears to mock a stout Englishman smoking a pipe, while surrounding figures observe this scene with evident amusement. This lot exemplifies Dighton’s keen eye for character and humour. His animated scenes of street life, par- ticularly around Covent Garden, are often compared to those of Thomas Rowlandson. Although primarily a social satirist, Dighton briefly engaged with political themes during the turbulent years of the early 1790s. By the turn of the century, his success enabled him to establish a shop in Charing Cross, where he sold both his own prints and those of other artists. While living in Oxford, Bath and Cambridge he produced a series of portraits of academic and provincial subjects. Return- ing to London in 1810, he reopened his studio, where he collaborated with his sons until his death in 1814.