Henry Walton 1746-1813. 18th.Century British School. Grey wash watercolour drawing. Study of a barrowman and a dustman in conversation. Circa.1780. Provenance: Randall Davies and Arnold Fellows Collection No.60. 17 by 17.5 cms to mounted image. Executed on laid paper laid onto card, old crease to lower left corner to no real detriment.
Little is known of Henry Walton's early life; his earliest recorded portraits date from 1768. In 1770, he began studying art at the Maiden Lane Academy, in Covent Garden, London. During the 1770s, he worked as a portraitist, painting portraits in oil and producing miniatures. Among his most celebrated sitters were Edward Gibbon the Reverend William Gilpin, Horatio Walpole and Lord Cornwallis. By the 1780s, he had established himself producing genre paintings. By the early 1790s, he was established as a picture dealer and adviser to some major private collectors. Drawings by Walton are rare.