George Morland (1763 - 1804) Seated Boy

George Morland (1763 - 1804) Seated Boy, initialled and dated 1804 lower right, pencil drawing,Provenance: collection of Peter Roberts, purchased from Phoenix Fine Art, label verso 'in the collection of Alfred A Haley, Walton, Wakefield', inscribed 'ex collection of Walter Gulby'Footnote:Peter Roberts was born in Shropshire and brought up in the market town of Shrewsbury. He attended the Priory Grammar School before leaving for Cambridge University where he studied Classics and English. He qualified as a teacher, working first at Rydal School in North Wales before being appointed Head of English at Oundle School in 1982 where he remained until his retirement in 2007. Later in life he returned to his roots in Shropshire and spent his time pursuing his love of the arts, and built up a very carefully curated collection of antique furniture, antiquarian books and in particular, 19th Century English Watercolours. Roberts had a keen eye and focused on some of Britain’s best loved landscape painters such as David Cox, John Varley, Paul Sandby, Peter de Wint and William Leighton Leitch.