Robert Louis BANKS

The present sheet was drawn in a ryokan, a type of traditional Japanese inn, situated in the iconic Gion district of Kyoto; an area known for its geisha culture, bars, restaurants and teahouses. Another large watercolour of Kyoto by Robert Banks, a large sheet depicting the Taizo-In landscape garden created by the 16th century painter and calligrapher Kano Matonobu, was sold at auction in 20111, while a view of the interior of a Kyoto tea house appeared at auction in London in 2001. A watercolour by Banks of a similar subject to the present sheet, also exhibited at the Trafford Gallery, is recorded in a photograph in the Witt Library of the Courtauld Institute of Art.