Memorials of CHRISTIE’S E-Book

William Roberts

• Herausgeber: Edizioni Savine
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

“The chief difficulty experienced in the compilation of these “ Memorials of CHRISTIE’S ” has been, not the lack of material, but the wealth of it. To compress into two volumes the essence of many thousands of catalogues has been a task of no little difficulty, and I do not pretend to claim that every “lot” of importance is to be found mentioned within these covers. To compile a complete record of the sales at Christie’s would require a lifetime of constant application, and a long series of volumes dealing with each of the many special objects which come under the hammer at Messrs. Christie, Manson and Woods’. Such a work would be of the greatest possible value, and in many respects of very considerable interest, but it naturally could not be undertaken by one upon whose time the daily press makes large demands. In the preparation of this work, I have gone through all the earlier Christie catalogues, page by page, and all the more important ones of the later issues have been carefully scanned. I think, therefore, that these two volumes will be found to contain a fairly exhaustive resumé of the chief public sales which have been held at Christie’s during the long period of nearly a century and a half. The task has been no light one, and if the results are commensurate with the amount of labour and time which it has involved I shall feel at all events that my work has not been in vain.” - ( William Roberts - 1897)

Leseprobe

Memorials of

CHRISTIE’S

A RECORD OF ART SALES FROM 1766 TO 1896

by

WILLIAM ROBERTS

Author of "the Bookhunter in London," Etc.

VOL.I.

THE SPECIOUS ORATOR. (i.e. JAMES CHRISTIE I.) From a print by R. DIGHTON, published March 25, 1794. - WILL YOUR LADYSHIP DO ME THE HONOR TO SAY £50-000 -A MERE TRIFLE — A BRILLIANT of the FIRST WATER an unheard of price for such a lot, surely.

New digital edition of:

Memorials of CHRISTIE’S (Vol.I)

by William Roberts

© 1897 by George Bell and Sons - London

Copyright © 2017 - Edizioni Savine

email: [email protected]

web: www.edizionisavine.com

ISBN 978-88-99914-08-0

CONTENTS

Memorials of CHRISTIE’S

PREFACE.

CHAPTER I. - JAMES CHRISTIE AND HIS SUCCESSORS.

CHAPTER II.

Some Early Sales — English Porcelain — Sir Robert Strange — R. Ansell — Captain O’kelly — Greenwood — Samuel Dickinson — H. E. J. Got De Grote — Libraries — Signor Biondi — Samuel Foote — W. Laws — N. J. Desenfans — The Chevalier D’eon - Sir Joshua Reynolds — B. Vandergucht— Hogarth’s Marriage A La Mode — John Trumbull.

CHAPTER III. - 1800—1810.

John Udny’s Pictures From The Colonna Palace And Florentine Gallery — Lord Bessborough — Sir William Hamilton — William Young Ottley — Alderman Beckford — Countess Holderness — Guy Head — Sir Simon Clarke And George Hibbert — Walsh Porter — The Novellara Collection — Robert Udny — Pictures From The Barberini Palace — Alderman Boy-dell — Welbore Agar Ellis — Lafontaine — Speaker Lenthall — Walsh Porter (2nd Sale).

CHAPTER IV. - 1811—1847.

William Young Ottley — Duca San Pietro — Duke Of Rox- Burghe — Henry Hope — J. F. Tuffen - Ph. Panne' - Benjamin West — Arthurchampernowne — Marchioness Of Thomond - John Lamb — Marquis Of Bute - Fonthill — G. Watson Taylor — David Garrick — Nollekens — Madame Murat — Sir M. M. Sykes — H.r.h. The Duke Of York — Egyptian Antiquities — Duke Of Bedford — Lord De Tabley — Lord Carysfoot — George Canning - Lord Gwydyr — Sir Thomas Lawrence - Earl Of Mulgrave — Lord C. Townshend — W. G. Coesvelt — Sir Simon H. Clarke — John Penrice — Edmund Higginson Of Salt-marshe — Edward Solly.

CHAPTER V. - 1848—1854.

The Stowe Collection Of The Duke Of Buckingham — J. Newington Hughes — Casimir Perier — Sir Thomas Baring — Montcalm Gallery At Montpellier — W. Coningham — W. Wells Of Redleaf — W. W. Hope — Lord Ashburnham — Charles Lucien Bonaparte — Louis Philippe — J. D. Gardner — E. J. De Bammeville.

CHAPTER VI. - 1855-1870.

Ralph Bernal — Samuel Rogers, The Poet — Lord Orford — The Alton Towers Collection Of The Earl Of Shrewsbury— Rev. F. Leicester — Hon. Percy Ashburnham — Charles Scarisbrick — L. V. Flatou — China Sales — Sir John Swinburne — T. E. Plint’s Pre - Raphaelite Pictures — Elkanan Bicknell — John Leech’s Drawings And Pictures — Edwin Bullock — David Maclise — Charles Dickens.

CHAPTER VII. - 1872—1876.

Joseph Gillott — Prince Jerome Napoleon — Alexander Barker — Sir E. Landseer — The Marlborough Gems — Sam Mendel Of Manley Hall — William Quilter — Charles Bredel — Rev. John Lucy — Thomas Woolner — Jesse Watts Russell Of Ilam Hall — W. E. Gladstone — Wynn Ellis — Gainsborough’s Duchess Of Devonshire — Albert Levy — R. Foster Of Clewer Manor — Dunn Gardner.

CHAPTER VIII. - 1877-1882.

W. Stone Ellis — Robert Napier, Of Shandon — Robert Vernon — Baron Albert Grant's Kensington House Gallery — John Knowles Of Manchester - Sir Henry Raeburn — The Duc De Forll’s Dresden Porcelain - Dr. Sibson’s Wedgwood - H. A. J. Munro, Of Novar — Thomas Greenwood — Porcelain Sales — H G. Bohn — J. S. Virtue — Lord Lonsdale — Joseph Arden — Jonathan Nield — W. And J. Fenton — J. Wardells — W. Benoni White - J. H. Anderdon — Charles Dickens - F. W. Hooper — Charles Kurtz — Colonel Holdsworth — Charles Sackville Bale — E. J. Colemanw. - Sharp - E. Hermon, M.p., Of Wyfold Court.

PREFACE.

THE chief difficulty experienced in the compilation of these “ Memorials of Christie’s ” has been, not the lack of material, but the wealth of it. To compress into two volumes the essence of many thousands of catalogues has been a task of no little difficulty, and I do not pretend to claim that every “lot” of importance is to be found mentioned within these covers. To compile a complete record of the sales at Christie’s would require a lifetime of constant application, and a long series of volumes dealing with each of the many special objects which come under the hammer at Messrs. Christie, Manson and Woods’. Such a work would be of the greatest possible value, and in many respects of very considerable interest, but it naturally could not be undertaken by one upon whose time the daily press makes large demands. In the preparation of this work, I have gone through all the earlier Christie catalogues, page by page, and all the more important ones of the later issues have been carefully scanned. I think, therefore, that these two volumes will be found to contain a fairly exhaustive resumé of the chief public sales which have been held at Christie’s during the long period of nearly a century and a half. The task has been no light one, and if the results are commensurate with the amount of labour and time which it has involved I shall feel at all events that my work has not been in vain.

If Messrs. Christie had not been, from the very first, in the habit of preserving their priced catalogues, no such work as this could possibly have been carried into even an approximately successful issue. Even as it is, their earlier volumes of catalogues are in some instances incomplete, and a few of the first importance and interest are wanting: they were borrowed, when borrowing was not prohibited, and they have met the usual fate of borrowed books—they have never been returned. Catalogues of art, as of book sales, become after a time excessively difficult to obtain, and some are absolutely unprocurable. A few of those absent from Messrs. Christie’s invaluable “ file,” are to be found at the British Museum, and possibly elsewhere, and I have been able to make good some “ gaps ” from outside sources, and from contemporary newspaper reports. Messrs. Christie have courteously given me every facility in the preparation of this work, which is not to be regarded as in any sense of an “official” nature produced under the auspices of the firm itself; and I desire here to express the deep sense of obligation I feel towards the members of the historic firm in this matter.

Without Messrs. Christie’s courtesy I could not have obtained permission to reproduce the series of collotype plates with which these volumes are illustrated, and in this matter Mr. L. Hannen has actively interested himself by obtaining permission from the various possessors of the pictures and other objects of art. I am also indebted to The Times for a generous selection from the many brilliant articles which have appeared in its pages when any great sale has been about to take place. My friend Mr. Gleeson White has assisted me in the selection of plates and in other matters.

“ Memorials of Christie’s” is not in any sense a rival of the late George Redford’s “ Art Sales,” published in two volumes in 1888, from which it differs entirely, not only in arrangement, but in the fact that it is devoted entirely to Christie’s. It is not easy to decide as to the most convenient plan for such a work as this. My own preferences would have been to model it on the system adopted by M. Charles Blanc in his “ Trésor de la Curiosité, tiré des Catalogues de Vente” (Paris, 1857-8), giving, in addition, some account of the collectors themselves, and relying on a very full index as the means of making it a valuable work of reference. That plan is, indeed, followed here, but with many important modifications, as one preferable to Mr. Redford’s : had it been followed entirely, however, it would not have been possible to compress the information already contained in these pages into less than half-a-dozen volumes. A very considerable percentage of the collectors were men who may be said to have had no individuality beyond their collections, and are consequently unconsidered by the various biographical dictionaries. I have, however, given a few brief personal details where such have been accessible.

I do not think that any elaborate details as to the scope of the work are necessary, as my object has been to make the text as simple as possible. It may, nevertheless, be necessary to point out that several moderately important sales which do not appear as substantive articles will be found incorporated with other auctions. The Heugh sales, for instance, included a number of important pictures, nearly all of which have occurred subsequently in other collections, where they are duly referred to. This practice has saved much valuable space. Another point may be mentioned to prevent any possible confusion. Where two or three pictures by one artist occur in a single sale, it has not been thought necessary to repeat the artist’s name : the conjunction “ and,” of course, indicating that the second picture is by the same artist as that immediately preceding—for example : Ruysdael, a Waterfall, oooo guineas, and a Cascade, oooo guineas. One of the great difficulties would have been to draw a hard and fast line as to prices.

I have not attempted to draw any such line, but have mentioned objects which appeared to me to be worthy of note. Price is by no means an infallible guide as to the authenticity of a picture or its value as a work of art. Innumerable instances have occurred in which a picture realized say £10 in the early part of the century has within recent years sold for upwards of £1,000. The tastes of collectors of works of art, as in everything else, undergo changes, and can be guided by no law of logic : in such a work as this, therefore, common sense and the absence of any kind of enthusiasm for any particular school of art are an author’s most valuable attributes.

The writer of an article in the first volume of the Library of the Fine Arts, March, 1831, says that James Christie, the elder, first started in Wardour Street, where he opened business as a book auctioneer. “Diligent and successful in his calling, he improved his means, and removing to Spring Gardens, Charing Cross, commenced as general auctioneer, under the firm of Christie and Ansell. It was here that he experienced his first great loss, the precursor of those misfortunes to which his generous nature too frequently exposed him throughout life. He became, under particular circumstances of friendship, security for a minor of great expectations, to the amount of £20,000. The young gentlemen died just before the expiration of his minority, and Christie lost the whole sum. Happily he had many friends, amongst others, the illustrious Garrick. No sooner was this great player acquainted with Christies loss, than he generously advanced him the loan of £ 10,000 which the borrower within a given period repaid; and such was his grateful recollection of the circumstance, that when deputed by Garrick’s widow to sell part of her honoured husband’s effects, Christie very feelingly related the whole affair to his auditors from the rostrum.”

From the same writer we learn that of the two partners mentioned in vol. i., p.I I, Sharp was a diamond merchant in the city, and that Harper was a brother of the wife of Jack Banister, the comedian. This writer also informs us that the first James Christie was not exactly a connoisseur, but to have “ had the advantage of a constant and friendly intercourse with many of the distinguished artists and connoisseurs ; so much so that a certain coterie, who frequently partook of his venison and claret, were denominated Christie’s Fraternity of GodFathers, as they sometimes in the character of sponsors christened questionable graphic specimens of the genius obscure, Domenichino’s, S. del Piombo’s, Da Vinci’s, etc.”

Garrick, Richard Wilson, and Gainsborough frequently dined with Mr. Christie, and it was on such occasions that Tom Gainsborough and Davy Garrick gave loose to their crazy fancies, in their travesties of every remarkable picture that had passed the ordeal of the ivory hammer.

The first Christie acquired “ a universal reputation for honour and integrity, and so boundless was his liberality that he was commonly designated the ‘ Princely-minded Christie.’ He died honoured and respected—but certainly not rich.” According to the same writer, “ Young Christie”—by which distinction he was known up to the time of his death—“ never cared for the auction business,” which his father induced him, only after repeated efforts, to enter. He first entered the rostrum “ in the spring of 1794, to relieve his father of the tedium of the six days’ sale of the effects of J. Alexander Gresse, the artist and collector.” The second James Christie was a member of the Spectacle Makers’ Company, and his son George was eventually elected a member of the same fraternity.

The Christies’ burial-place was at St. James’s, Hampstead Road, where a runic cross now bears the names of nine members of the family. James Christie I. was an ardent Jacobite, and the names of all his children bear witness of his devotion to this cause. He first married Isabella Chapman, daughter of a Suffolk landowner; and secondly Mrs. Urquhart, widow of a Scotch wine merchant.

Two interesting relics of the founder of the firm are still in constant use at King Street, namely the fine old mahogany rostrum said to have been made by Chippendale, and the original ivory hammer which has sealed, so to speak, the fate of so many great collections.                W. R.

Carlton Villa, Klea Avenue,

Clapham Common.

March, 1897.

A PICTURE SALE, CIRCA 1770.

MEMORIALS OF CHRISTIE’S.

CHAPTER I. - JAMES CHRISTIE AND HIS SUCCESSORS.

IT is not only a curious but a very remarkable fact, that the founders of two eminent London firms should have been “drawn,” at about the same time, from a source which seemed little likely to augur success. Both John Murray I. and James Christie primus left the Navy for the respective callings of publishing and auctioneering in London, practically within a few months of one another. They were both Scotsmen, and each seems to have possessed, in a conspicuous degree, not only a more than native share of pluck and energy, but the infinite capacity for mastering details which alone makes successful men of business. Although neither the firm of Christie nor that of Murray is the doyen of the trade in its respective line ; yet they are rightly regarded as the heads of the two great phases of commercial enterprise.

Of James Christie’s parentage and family connections very little appears to be known ; and of his career up to the time when he started as an auctioneer in London, even less information has been published. He was, as we have already stated, a Scotsman, having been born at Perth in 1730; his mother was a Macdonald, his father an Englishman of good family, whilst Flora Macdonald was a near relation and intimate friend. He entered the Navy,1 and held a commission under which he served some years as midshipman. He is said to have resigned his commission before he was twenty, owing to a romantic attachment to a lady of great beauty whom he eventually married, and on coming up to London, he became assistant to an auctioneer named Annesley, in Covent Garden. With Annesley he remained in partnership for some years, but towards the end of the year 1766 he started on his own account at the rooms in Pall Mall, formerly occupied by Richard Dalton, printseller; the business was at first almost entirely devoted to the sale of estates and London houses, and the sales of pictures and other chattels formed but a small percentage of the transactions. All contemporary accounts of James Christie are laudatory in the highest degree, and coming, as these do, from so many men of widely differing and indeed antagonistic tastes and creeds, there can be no question as to the high estimation in which he was held. “ He was,” says one, “of tall and dignified appearance, remarkable for eloquence and professional enthusiasm, and was intimate with Garrick, Reynolds, Gainsborough and other men of note.” The stories told about him are very numerous, although the majority of them are perhaps not too authentic. In one of these traditions he plays the part of patriot. At the time when Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser’s house in Pall Mall was attacked because its owner did not bring home fresh laurels to the British Navy, Mr. Christie called all his porters together, and sallied out at their head, armed with good stout sticks; they completely routed the mob, driving them away in confusion. John Taylor, the author of “Monsieur Tonson,” describes in his interesting “ Records of My Life,” 1832 (vol. ii. 206-211), James Christie in highly flattering terms. He says :—“ There was something interesting and persuasive, as well as thoroughly agreeable in his manner. He was very animated, and it may be justly said, eloquent, in his recommendation of any article to be announced from his ‘ Rostrum,’ as well as in occasional effusions of genuine humour. He was courteous, friendly and hospitable in private life, and was held in great esteem by his numerous friends, among whom there were many of high rank. It was reported, and I believe truly, that he lost considerable property by his confidence in Mr. Chace Price, a gentleman well known in the upper circles of his time, and more admired for his wit and humour than for the strictness of his moral principles. It was understood that Mr. Christie’s loss by this gentleman amounted to five thousand pounds ; and this event afforded an additional proof of the generous feelings of Mr. Garrick, who, hearing of the loss and of the high character of Mr. Christie, though but little acquainted with him, with great delicacy offered to accommodate him with the full amount of his loss, if his consequent situation rendered such assistance necessary or expedient. Whether Mr. Christie had occasion to avail himself of this liberal offer, I know not, but that it was tendered is certainly true, and it corresponds with the testimony in favour of Mr. Garrick’s benevolent disposition, as given by Dr. Johnson, by Mr. Smith the actor, in several of his letters to me, and by my late friend, Mr. Arthur Murphy. . . .