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Lot 432
BRUICHLADDICH 1990 23 YEAR OLD BLACK ART EDITION 04.1 ISLAY SINGLE MALT 49.2% ABV / 70clGiven Islay’s peaty reputation, the assumption might be that the islanders themselves favour big smoky whiskies. However, it’s actually Bruichladdich with its traditionally unpeated style that has earned the reputation as the local favourite. It’s only relatively recently that the distillery has dabbled in peated whisky with their Port Charlotte range, as well as the ultra-heavily peated Octomore releases.
Lot 177
George Vicat Cole, British 1833-1893- A wooded garden with figures; oil on canvas, signed with monogram (lower right), inscribed 'Vicat Cole' to the right stretcher bar, 25.9 x 36.1 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: Like his father George Cole (1810-1883), Vicat Cole was best known for his paintings of landscapes, with his tranquil scenes of the English countryside proving particularly popular over the course of his lifetime and long after. His landscapes, which can be interpreted as celebrations of the quiet beauty of rural Britain, are in the collections of a number of galleries across the UK, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Manchester Art Gallery, and the National Gallery of Wales.
Lot 196
Charles Frederick Gerrard, Australian 1849-1942- Ship off the coast on stormy seas; oil on canvas, signed and dated 'C.F. Gerrard / 1886' (lower right), 59.6 x 90 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: Gerrard is recorded as working as a painter in Sydney in the 1880s, exhibiting his first works with the Royal Art Society in Sydney in 1884. He was best-known for his dramatic coastal scenes, like the present work.
Lot 367
Sir William Russell Flint, RA PRWS, Scottish 1880-1969- Threatening Storms, Loch Earn; watercolour on paper, signed lower left 'W. Russell Flint', bears old label signed and inscribed 'RWS Spring 1946 / No. 6 Threatening Skies, Loch Earn. / W Russell Flint' attached to the backing board, 24 x 36.8 cm. ARR. Provenance: with The Fine Art Society, London, 1955. Private Collection, UK. Exhibited: London, Royal Watercolour Society, 1946, according to an inscription on the Fine Art Society label attached to the backing board. Note: Although perhaps best known for his female nudes, Russell Flint was also a prolific painter of landscapes, repeatedly depicting the location of Loch Earn in Perthshire in his watercolours. The present work is rendered particularly atmospheric by the darkness of the mountains on the horizon, which contrast with the light tree trunks and blue waters in the foreground, and the ominous clouds which roll overhead.
Lot 336
William George Robb, British 1872-1940- An Italianate landscape with figures in elegant dress; oil on canvas, signed and dated 'ROBB / 1919' (lower right), bears stamps for 'John B. Smith, London' to the canvas and central stretcher bar verso, 94 x 129.5 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: The present work is characteristic of Robb's dreamy scenes, heavily influenced by the fêtes galante by French Rococo painters such as Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) and Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806). He studied at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen and in Paris, before settling in London, where he exhibited regularly, with a one man show at the Fine Art Society in 1920. A similar scene to the present work is in the collection of the University of Edinburgh [EU0182].
Lot 174
Chauncey Foster Ryder, American 1868-1949- A river landscape; oil on panel, signed 'Chauncey F. Ryder' (lower right), inscribed verso, 34.9 x 26.3 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: Chauncey Foster Ryder was an early 20th century American Postimpressionist landscape painter known for a green-gray palette termed 'Ryder green'. From 1901, he lived in France for several years, living in an art colony at Étaples and exhibiting his work at the Paris Salon (1903–1909). He took on occasional students, including American painter William Posey Silva. His developing style was influenced by the dramatic compositions of his friend, painter Max Bohm, and by his admiration for the Japanese artist Hokusai. In 1907, Ryder moved to New York, where he was represented for the rest of his career by art dealer William Macbeth. His landscapes were admired for their vigorous brushwork, and the degree to which he pushed representational elements towards abstraction.
Lot 2
Attributed to Adam de Colone, Dutch 1572-1651- Portrait of a lady identified as Lady Margaret Hay, Countess of Dunfermline, bust-length, in a black and white slashed doublet, white lace collar and black veil; oil on canvas, dated '1628-' (upper right), 66.15 x 53.7 cm. Provenance: The Marquess' of Tweeddale, Yester House, East Lothian and by descent. 'The Most Hon. The Dowager Marchioness of Tweeddale and the Trustees of the Most Hon. the late Marquess of Tweeddale' sale, Christie's, London, 1 May 1970, lot 46 (as 'G. Jackson'), £199.10. Property of the late Hugo Morley-Fletcher, MA FSA (1940-2022). Exhibited: Edinburgh, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, ‘Painting in Scotland 1570-1650’, August-September 1975, no.53 (as 'Adam de Colone').Literature: J. Bullock, 'George Jamesone the Scottish Vandyck', Edinburgh, 1885, p.182, no.183, as 'George Jameson' and the sitter 'Jane Abercromby, daughter of the Earl of Dunfermline'. D. Thomson, 'The Life and Art of George Jamesone', Oxford, 1974, under Appendix B, 'Portraits attributed to Adam de Colone', pp.148-49, no.21, illus. pl.41, as 'George Jameson' and the sitter 'Margaret Kerr, Lady Yester'. Note: The present work was previously thought to identify Lady Margaret Kerr, Lady Yester (1573-1645). However, the date of the portrait suits Tweeddale’s sister, Lady Margaret Hay (1592-1659), rather than his mother, Margaret Kerr (and not his wife, who had died before the portrait was painted). ‘Formerly attributed to both Jamesone and Gilbert Jackson, it has, in fact, many of those Netherlandish features typical of de Colone… Despite a certain smoothness…, the face has a degree of particularity which makes it one of de Colone's most satisfying portraits. The subject, clearly a widow as both her dress and the ring tied to the band string show, has long been traditionally identified as Margaret Kerr, Lady Hay of Yester…, an identification which can be disposed of purely on the evidence of the date on the painting and the age of the sitter. It is so obviously [a] pendant from no. 52 above [Portrait of John Hay] that an identity must be sought in that context. Lord Hay's first wife Jean Seton, daughter of the 1st Earl of Dunfermline, died before 19 January 1627 and is, therefore, discounted. His sister Margaret Hay, however, married this same Earl of Dunfermline (as his third wife) in 1607 and was widowed in 1622: she did not remarry until 1633. That the sitter is indeed Margaret Hay is virtually confirmed by comparison with an earlier portrait by Gheeraerts (formerly at Yester) - a conclusion supported by a comparison with the Van Dyck portrait of her eldest son, the 2nd Earl of Dunfermline, which shows a face extraordinarily similar in appearance.’ (Scottish National Portrait Gallery, ‘Painting in Scotland 1570-1650’ exhibition catalogue, p.55). Indeed, the Countess of Dunfermline would have known Adam de Colone as he painted her first husband, the 1st Earl of Dunfermline, in 1622. This painting was possibly commissioned by the countess, as it was painted the year of the Earl's death, and instead of being from life, it copies a 1610 portrait of him by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery [PG 2176].. Adam de Colone also painted her son Charles Seton, 2nd Earl of Dunfermline (date unknown). De Colone clearly employed at least one studio assistant. While he wasn’t in the British Isles for long, there are versions of his full-length depiction of James VI and I (at full-length, three-quarter-length and half-length) that appear to be painted with the assistance of another hand, to meet the demand for copies of this particular composition. It is entirely possible therefore that the present lot was painted by both Adam de Colone and a studio assistant. The present work would have been a one-off composition of an important sitter and so it would have been very unlikely if the master was not involved in its production at all.
Lot 199
Hermanus Koekkoek, Senior, Dutch 1815-1822- Fishing vessels in choppy waters off the Dutch coast; oil on canvas, faintly signed and dated 'H Koekkoek / 1843' (lower right), bears label for 'Royal Exchange Art Gallery, London' attached to the lower stretcher bar, 39.5 x 52.9 cm. (VAT charged on the hammer price). Provenance: Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 23 March 1984, lot 27. Note: Koekkoek was a member of the Koekkoek artistic dynasty, as the son of Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek (1778-1851), brother of Barend Cornelis Koekkoek (1803-1862) and Marinus Adrianus Koekkoek (1807-1868), and father of Johannes Hermanus Barend Koekkoek (1840-1912), Willem Koekkoek (1839-1895), and Hermanus Koekkoek, Junior. (1836-1909). Hermanus Koekkoek Senior was a prolific and highly accomplished painter of dramatic marine scenes.
Lot 1
Attributed to Adam de Colone, Dutch 1572-1651- Portrait of John Hay, 8th Lord Hay of Yester, later 1st Earl of Tweeddale, half-length, in a black and white slashed doublet and white lace collar; oil on canvas, dated 'AETATIS. 33 / 1628' (upper left), 64.2 x 55.4 cm. Provenance: The Marquess' of Tweeddale, Yester House, East Lothian and by descent. 'The Most Hon. The Dowager Marchioness of Tweeddale and the Trustees of the Most Hon. the late Marquess of Tweeddale' sale, Christie's, London, 1 May 1970, lot 45 (as 'G. Jackson'), £178.10. Property of the late Hugo Morley-Fletcher, MA FSA (1940-2022). Exhibited: Edinburgh, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, ‘Painting in Scotland 1570-1650’, August-September 1975, no.52 (as 'Adam de Colone'). Literature: J. Bullock, 'George Jamesone the Scottish Vandyck', Edinburgh, 1885, p.182, no.182, as 'George Jameson'. D. Thomson, 'The Life and Art of George Jamesone', Oxford, 1974, under Appendix B, 'Portraits attributed to Adam de Colone', p.149, no.22, as 'George Jameson'. Note: John Hay, 1st Earl of Tweedale (1595-1654) was a leading promoter of the National Covenant, an agreement signed by many people of Scotland during 1638, opposing the proposed reforms of the Church of Scotland (also known as the Kirk) by King Charles I. He was made an Earl in 1646. ‘Attributed to Jamesone by Bullock. Like its companion [Portrait of Margaret Hay], it has more recently borne an attribution to Gilbert Jackson. It has, however, none of that painter's characteristic naiveté: it does have many of those features which have been noted as characteristic of de Colone and is by the same hand as… above. Lord Hay of Yester, though a signatory to the Solemn League and Covenant, remained acceptable to Charles I and was created Earl of Tweeddale in 1646.’ (Scottish National Portrait Gallery, ‘Painting in Scotland 1570-1650’ exhibition catalogue, p.55). The sitter would have been an important sitter for the artist. He was - as part of the interconnected Scottish network of patrons and just as part of the wider Hay family - cousins with George Hay, Earl of Kinnoull, who sat to Adam de Colone, who in turn produced two portrait types of him, and Anne Hay, Countess of Winton, who sat to the artist at least twice. Adam de Colone clearly employed at least one studio assistant. While he wasn’t in the British Isles for long, there are versions of his full-length depiction of James VI and I (at full-length, three-quarter-length and half-length) that appear to be painted with the assistance of another hand, to meet the demand for copies of this particular composition. It is entirely possible therefore that the present lot was painted by both Adam de Colone and a studio assistant. The present work would have been a one-off composition of an important sitter and so it would have been very unlikely if the master was not involved in its production at all. A note on the collection:The following 14 lots belonged to the late Hugo Morley-Fletcher, the great European Ceramics specialist who worked at Christie’s for over 40 years and appeared on the BBC’s 'Antiques Roadshow' for over 25 years.Hugo was born in 1940 and spent the Second World War in his mother’s family’s ancestral home, Yester House near Edinburgh. Yester was built between 1699 and 1728 for the Marquesses of Tweeddale. In 1729 the 4th Marquess commissioned William Adam to carry out alterations, particularly to the interiors, but William died before the work was completed, and it wasn’t until his sons Robert and John Adam resumed work on it in 1759 that it was completed in the early 1760s. Yester is one of Scotland’s finest houses and its architecture, plasterwork and contents had a profound impact upon Hugo. His mother was also a talented sculptor, so art was in his blood. Shortly after his grandfather the 11th Marquess died in the late 1960s, the house was sold, along with a lot of the contents.Hugo had his own rather eccentric aristocratic style and sense of panache in tandem with an unerring confidence; this was off-putting to some, but utterly captivating to others. Working with Hugo at Christie’s was, at times, a little challenging, but it was certainly never dull. He loved wearing his green 'loden' cape that he had bought in Vienna, yet paradoxically, Hugo always retained his sense of Britishness. On one occasion, over 20 years ago, when we were in a tiny railway station in the middle of nowhere in Germany, we were struggling to get a ticket machine to work when a local kindly intervened to help. He then asked if we had been there the previous year. When we confirmed that we had, and asked why he asked, he replied that he remembered Hugo’s red socks!Hugo had a natural eye for art, frequently cutting straight to the key points of an object. His understanding extended beyond ceramics to encompass pictures and other decorative arts, and he had the ability to identify the best artwork in a room filled with things, whether it was ceramic or something different. He had a prodigious memory, priding himself in his ability to memorise the position of objects within a client’s house and retain that memory many years after the visit. He also had the ability to give a summary value of a collection after only the briefest of visits. He was often generous with his knowledge, but on other occasions would withhold it as a test. The study groups of saucers and small objects in this sale illustrate some of the fascinating complexities found in ceramics, and they would be an excellent vehicle for teaching.Hugo was a fine linguist and was completely untroubled by taking auctions in a variety of different languages. He also had a natural curiosity and understanding of other cultures, and Continental friends and clients were frequently surprised and impressed by his knowledge of both their history and current affairs, which often surpassed their own. His almost encyclopaedic knowledge of Royal and aristocratic families in Britain and the Continent meant that he understood how these families and historical events shaped the creation of ceramics of time, and as he once reminded me, with the creation of ceramics, ‘there is always someone writing a cheque’.Hugo was a tour-de-force in the ceramics world, publishing a number of specialist books included 'Investing in English Pottery and Porcelain' (1968), Meissen (1970), 'Meissen in Colour' (1971) and the 'Pflueger collection of Early European Porcelain and Faience' (1994). When he joined Christie’s in 1963 the market was dominated by Sotheby’s under the auspices of the great Tim Clarke. By the 1970s Hugo had reversed this. Two of the iconic sales of the 1970s were a highly important collection which was sold anonymously in March and October 1977, making a huge amount of money at the time. These were followed by many others.Later in his life Hugo became Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Dyers in the City of London which ushered in his charitable work with the Boucher Church of England Primary School, a disadvantaged school in East London. Hugo gave lessons in French and Latin, and in particular he was keen to promote reading, instigating the practice of the Dyers to donate a book to every pupil of the school each year.Text courtesy of Dominic Simpson, Consultant and former Head of European Ceramics at Christie’s.
Lot 157
Noel Harry Leaver, British 1889-1951- A busy street scene, with a Cathedral beyond; pencil and watercolour on paper, signed 'Noel. H. Leaver. A.R.C.A.' (lower right), 36.5 x 26.5 cm. Note: The present watercolour is a typical example of Leaver's compositions, featuring a church tower which peers out from behind bustling streets in the foreground. Leaver travelled widely across Europe and North Africa, having won a Travelling Studentship in 1911 and a RIBA Owen Jones Studentship in 1912, an experience which clearly heavily informed the artist's subsequent output, with many of Leaver's watercolours depicting the variety of cities and landscapes that he encountered. Towneley Hall Art Gallery, in the artist's native Burnley, holds a significant collection of his watercolours.
Lot 366
Lord Paul Ayshford Methuen, RA RWS PPRWA, British 1886-1974- Landscape with a church in Douelle, France; oil on board, signed 'Methuen' (lower left), bears inscription and date 'Douelle 1949 / 4 August 1949' verso, 23.5 x 35.2 cm. ARR. Provenance: with Fieldborne Galleries, London. Private Collection, UK. Note: Methuen received lessons from Walter Sickert (1860-1942) and Charles Holmes (1868-1936), both of whom had a significant influence on his approach. He was a keen supporter of the arts, offering his home of Corsham Court as the new premises for the Bath School of Art after the original building was destroyed in 1942, where it remained until 1972.
Lot 386
José Mongrell, Spanish 1870-1937- Still life with white, purple, and orange chrysanthemums in a basket; oil on canvas, signed 'J. Mongrell' (lower left), 50 x 65.2 cm. Provenance: with Leighton Fine Art, UK. where purchased by the current owner. Note: Mongrell worked in the studio of Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923) in Madrid, and his bright, Impressionistic paintings, often in seaside settings, clearly exhibit Sorolla's influence. The vibrant flowers here recall those in Mongrell's portrait 'A woman by a vase of chrysanthemums', which sold at Sotheby's, London, on 1 June 1989, lot 600 (£35,200).
Lot 110
George Dawe, British 1781-1829- A pair of portraits: Ebenezer Fuller Maitland; Bethia Fuller Maitland (née Ellis) and their son William; oils on canvas, each 238 x 147.5 cm., a pair (2). Provenance: The sitters, and thence by descent. Exhibited: London, Royal Academy of Art, 1817, no.247 (Mrs Fuller Maitland and her son). Note: Ebenezer Fuller Maitland FRS (1780-1858) was an English landowner and politician. He was the only son of Ebenezer Maitland, a London businessman and Bank of England director, and his wife Mary. In 1807, he changed his name to Ebenezer Fuller Maitland in accordance with the bequest of his wife's unmarried aunt, Sarah Fuller, who left him her fortune in 1810. In 1804, Maitland served as a lieutenant-colonel in the Reading Volunteers. He was elected Member of Parliament for Lostwithiel in 1807, for Wallingford in 1812, and for Chippenham in 1826, holding the latter seat until 1830. He was Sheriff of Berkshire in 1825–26, Sheriff of Breconshire in 1831-32, a director of the South Sea Company from 1815 until his death, and in 1829 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Ebenezer's wife Bethia (1781-1865) was heiress to the banker William Fuller, said to be one of the richest men in England. They had twelve children, of whom four sons and four daughters married. His eldest surviving son and heir was William Fuller Maitland (1813-1876), shown here as the little boy. William was an avid picture collector who journeyed frequently to Italy, where he encountered the works of the early Italian masters, whose paintings, alongside English landscapes, formed the basis of a major part of his collection. From the time of his first marriage in 1842 until his death, he lived at Stansted Hall in Essex. He was father to the MP and cricketer William Fuller-Maitland (1813-1876). As well as two large London houses, Ebenezer and Bethia owned country estates at Shinfield Park and Park Place in Berkshire, Stansted Hall at Stansted Mountfichet in Essex, Garth near Builth Wells in Breconshire, and High Barcaple in Kirkcudbrightshire. The portrait of Bethia and William shows Park Place in the left background. At the time of painting in c.1816, Park Place in fact belonged to Ebenezer's cousin Henry Piper Sperling, who had recently purchased the property at auction, and who in 1824 swapped it for Ebenezer's estate Norbury Park in Surrey. When Fuller Maitland died in 1858, Queen Victoria visited Park Place with the intention of purchasing the estate for the Prince of Wales. Ebenezer's wife in fact remained in the house until her death when their son William took over ownership. An attempt to sell by auction was made in 1866, but the eventual sale took place in 1867, to Charles Easton of Whiteknights, Reading – a speculator, purchased with the intention of dividing the then 800-acre estate. In 2012, it was sold to Russian businessman Andrey Borodin for a record £140 million, making it the hitherto most expensive house sale in the United Kingdom.
Lot 113
Claude Andrew Calthrop, British 1845-1893- Study for 'The Last Song of the Girondins'; oil on canvas, bears partial old label for 'Arthur Tooth, London' attached to the upper stretcher bar, 32.7 x 76 cm. Provenance: with Arthur Tooth & Sons, London. Fleming Williams (ex-Sotheby's). from whom purchased by the father of the present owner in 1967. Note: A preparatory study for Calthrop's finished painting 'The Last Song of the Girondins' which was exhibited at both London's Royal Academy in 1868 (no.390) and the Paris Universal Exposition in1878 (no.38), and latterly sold through The Maas Gallery [no.16353]. The following note was kindly provided by Rupert Maas and refers to the finished picture by Calthrop:Amongst the Jacobins of the French Revolution, the Girondins were the political faction which initially dominated the Paris Convention, overthrowing Louis XVI and declaring war on Austria and Prussia. In 1793, they were charged with ‘hostile conspiracy against the Republic’ by their rivals, the Montagnards, led by Robespierre. They were all summarily found guilty in a show trial, and at 11 p.m. on the 30th October 1793, they were sentenced to death. The very next morning, the 21 convicted men, including the corpse of Valazé, who had driven a pen into his own breast, were taken by cart from the dungeons of the Conciergerie to the guillotine. Stoic in their final hour, the processioners, led by Brissot, broke into the Marseillaise. The song dwindled to silence, until the very last Girondin was beheaded, which took only 36 minutes. The Reign of Terror had begun.This picture seems to echo Dickens’s famous opening sentence from A Tale of Two Cities (1859) recalling the French Revolution: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.’The Girondins in this picture are examples of bravery and moderation, going from darkness into light on their way to their deaths. It attracted considerable attention at the Royal Academy in 1868. One critic wrote that a ‘more difficult scene to portray could scarcely have been chosen; but he has given individuality to each character, whilst he has managed the processional grouping with an ease which says much for his appropriate idea of detail. The manner, too, in which the general scheme is worked out by means of a happy blending of colour, is also appropriate. The handling is minute, without being laboured; and the tone, kept down, to represent the vault from which the prisoners are about to emerge, is as sober as the scene is sad. We shall expect, after such a specimen as this, to note Mr C Calthrop’s rise in his profession’ (Bell’s Weekly Messenger, 23 May 1868, p 6). Another review suggested that the picture ‘seems to have been inspired by analogous works of Müller and Delaroche: the picture is dark. The painter, who is young, has talent which ought to lead him to success (The Art Journal, 1868, p 103). Recalling in 1868 an event seventy-six years earlier, the painting proved prophetic: within two years, the bloodbath of the Franco-Prussian War would bring about the downfall of the Second Republic.
Lot 289
William Shackleton, British 1872-1933- Burdens of the Sea; bodycolour on paper, signed and dated lower right 'W M Shackleton / 16', bears artist's inscribed label attached to the reverse of the frame, 41 x 47.5 cm. Provenance: with Wyndham T. Vint., Commercial Bank Buildings, Bradford. Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 11 February 1998, lot 154 (£1,955). Private Collection. Exhibited: Bradford, Cartwright Memorial Hall, loan no.206. Note: Works by the artist are in public collections across the UK, including Manchester Art Gallery, the Tate and Hepworth Wakefield.
Lot 262
Jan Portielje, Dutch / Belgian 1829-1908- Ophelia; oil on canvas, signed and inscribed 'Portielje. / Anvers' (lower right), 182 x 124 cm. Provenance: Anon. sale, Christie’s, London, 3 December 2003, lot 45 (£19,120). Private Collection (by descent). Note: Jan Frederik Pieter Portielje studied at the Koninklijke Akademie van Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague with Valentijn Bing (1812-1895) and Jan Braet von Überfeldt (1807-1894). He was particularly celebrated for his genre scenes and portraits, often depicting women. He had a major showing at the Exposition Internationale d'Anvers (1894), and was a regular participant in the Exhibition of Living Masters in the Netherlands from 1848 to 1888. Outside of Belgium and the Netherlands, his works may be seen at the Alfred East Art Gallery in Kettering, and the Bendigo Art Gallery in Victoria. In Shakespeare's drama Hamlet (1599–1601), Ophelia is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, and potential wife of Prince Hamlet. Along with Queen Gertrude, she is one of only two female characters in the original play.
Lot 314
Circle of George Frederic Watts, OM, RA, British 1817-1904- Portrait of a lady, quarter-length, wearing a white cap and red shawl; oil on panel, with a study of a lady's head verso, dated 'NOV. 2. 1888.' (upper right), bears faint pencil inscription crossed out '.... Mrs Harrison / Kent Hatch / nr Eden Bridge / Kent' verso, 41.4 x 31.3 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: Although perhaps best-known for his mythological and allegorical subjects, heavily informed by the Symbolist movement with which he was associated, Watts was also a prolific and influential portraitist. The legacy of Watts is visible in the composition of the present portrait, with the sitter - presumably a widow judging by her clothes and cap - placed in front of a background of block colour, and in the loose brushstrokes which impart the work with a sense of vitality and spontaneity. Similar works by Watts include his portrait of 'Lilith' in the Mercer Art Gallery [HARAG 370] and that of King Edward VII in the Watts Gallery [COMWG 154], whilst the restrained, somewhat sombre tone of the present work also recalls Watts's depiction of 'Sympathy', also in the collection of the Watts Gallery [COMWG 95].
Lot 385
John Crowther, British fl.1876-1898- View of the Nightingale Memorial, Westminster Abbey; pencil and watercolour heightened with white on paper laid down on card, signed 'J. Crowther' (lower left), 44.1 x 31 cm. (unframed / mounted). Provenance: Collection of Peter Jackson, UK. Private Collection, UK. Note: This monument is one of the most dramatic in Westminster Abbey and was designed by the French sculptor Louis-Francois Roubiliac (1702-1762). It commemorates Lady Elizabeth Nightingale (1704-1731) and her husband Joseph Gascoigne (1695-1752) who are buried in a vault in the north ambulatory nearby. The sculpture depicts a skeleton of Death emerging from his prison to aim his deadly dart at the dying figure of Elizabeth above. She is held up by her husband who, in horror, tries to ward off the stroke of death. The idea for this image may have come from a dream that Elizabeth's brother in law (the Earl of Huntingdon) had experienced when a skeleton had appeared at the foot of his bed, which then crept up under the bedclothes between husband and wife. The famous American writer, Washington Irving, declared it 'among the most renowned achievements of modern art'. It is said that one night a robber broke into the Church but was so horrified at seeing the figure of Death in the moonlight that he dropped his crowbar and fled in terror. The crowbar was displayed for many years beside the monument.
Lot 210
Alfred Morris, British 1835-c.1896- A hilly landscape with rams; oil on canvas, faintly signed 'A. MORRIS' (lower left), 76.5 x 126.9 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: This is a particularly charming example of Morris's pastoral landscapes, which typically feature a small group of sheep in an otherwise expansive, uninhabited landscape, as, for instance, in another work by the artist in the collection of the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath [no.L:17].
Lot 274
Spyridon Scarvelli, Greek 1868-1942- An entrance at the corner of a building with a figure peering over a stone wall; pencil and watercolour on paper, signed 'Scarvelli' (lower left), bears partial label for 'Caelt Gallery, Westbourne Grove' attached to the backing board, 35.2 x 22.3 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: Spyridon Scarvelli was born on the island of Corfu, Greece. He was taught art at The Corfu School of Art and later studied in Trieste & Rome. His work is found in many public and private collections, notably: The National Gallery, Athens, The Athens Municipal Gallery, The Leventis Gallery, The Koutlides Collection, The Averoff Gallery, The Municipal Gallery of Corfu, The Municipal Gallery of Rhodes, and The National Bank of Greece.
Lot 353
Noel Laura Nisbet, RI, British 1887-1956- A Bacchante; watercolour and bodycolour on paper, signed 'N. NISBET / R.I.' (lower left), 19.9 x 17.4 cm. AAR.Provenance: with The Maas Gallery, London [no.W12697/3]. Private Collection, UK. Note: Nisbet was the youngest child of the artist and novelist Hume Nisbet (1849-1923). She studied at Clapham School of Art and married fellow student Harry Bush (1883-1957) in 1910, and worked as a book illustrator from 1913-1917. Her work clearly exhibits the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites, in both style and subject matter.
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