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JULIAN HARTNOLL
Catalogue 31
being a selection of works of art
offered for sale by
JULIAN HARTNOLL
artmonger established in 1968
autumn 2013
37 Duke Street St James’s
London SW1Y 6DF
[email protected]
www.julianhartnoll.com
1
GEORGE RICHMOND RA
1809 – 1896
A Woman holding a Rosary whilst leaning against a pillar
oil, watercolour and chalk on card 21 ½ inches x 13 ½ inches
by descent in the artist’s family
This picture can be dated to the late 1830s when the artist was making allegorical studies from Biblical
subjects. The precise subject is unidentified. Compositionally Richmond had a preference for standing
figures complemented by verticals – trees or pillars – as shown in the earlier etching The Shepherd and
the oil study Isaac going forth to meditate amongst many. In a ‘by‐the‐way’, I was, as a teenager, a frequent
visitor at The Porch House, Potterne, a fine timber‐framed house which Richmond bought in 1871 ….
(Erica Lewis where are you now !?)
2
JAMES HAYLLAR
1829 – 1920
Study from Luca della Robbia’s Cantoria
pencil and blue chalk 10 ½ x 6 ¾ inches
inscribed verso from Lucca de la Robbia Uffizi Florence March 1853
(see also the front cover for illustration),
This is realistic drawing, giving the appearance almost of a photograph, of Luca Della Robbia’s early work
The Cantoria commissioned for Florence Cathedral in 1431 and now in the Uffizi. It depicts children
singing, dancing and making music to “praise the lord” in the words of Psalm 150. James Hayllar studied
as a young man in Italy before returning to England to establish his career. Initially a portrait painter he
then painted charming domestic scenes, much loved by the late art‐dealer Christopher Wood. Hayllar was
the father of four daughters, all painters. The present work is Ruskinian in its observation but there is no
connection with Ruskin of which I know.
3
JOHN GRIFFITHS SWAYNE
1819 – 1903
Snowdonia seen viewed the road from Capel Curig to Beddgellert
watercolour 14 ½ x 21 ½ inches
signed and dated 1873
Although Swayne was a distinguished doctor by profession he was also an accomplished artist having
trained with the Bristol artist Samuel Jackson. He combined both interests in a series of unpublished
etchings of his own dissections. As an artist his most notable work is a panoramic view made in New
Zealand where he had travelled in 1858 for the sake of his health; this work, Canterbury Plains from the
Port Hills near Christchurch, 1861, in oil and its study in watercolour are now both in the collection of the
National Library of Australia as part of the Rex Nan Kivell collection. The present watercolour is a very
accurate depiction of this view in North Wales, the figure giving not only the scale but also a sense of awe.
Swayne’s family were mainly solicitors practising in Glastonbury, Street and Burnham. They were cousins
on my maternal Moulton side: this watercolour has hung at The Hall , Bradford‐on‐Avon since the 1870s.
4
EDWARD ARMITAGE RA
1817 – 1896
Study of two standing figures
black chalks on grey paper 23 x 14 inches
from an extensive collection of Armitage drawings
Unfortunately this drawing has not yet been identified as a study for a particular painting. The model is
shown in his undergarments and then wearing a studio cloak. The slightly mannerist height of the figure
is characteristic of many of Armitage’s standing figures: clearly he is observing, contemplating, some
action off scene.
I have before me a copy of letter dated May 13th 1878 addressed to an unknown correspondent … the
photographs of most of my pictures are published by Mr Lucas of 37 Duke Street and I receive a royalty on
the copies sold. The Times in 1876 commented upon Mr Arthur Lucas, the photographer, on his publication
of 80 popular pictures on separate card mounts. Of interest both as to the early date for photographic
reproductions of paintings to be offered for sale but also, of curiosity, as Arthur Lucas was working from
1876 at 37 Duke Street. Such is the continuity of art dealing, or art‐mongering as I would have it, in Duke
Street. Cork Street may come and go but Duke Street will survive. My thanks to Jill Armitage for bringing
this letter to my attention.
5
CHARLES BURTON BARBER
1845 – 1894
A favourite pet
oil on canvas 24 ½ x 18 ½ inches
signed lower right
a label verso bears the inscription Mr Arthur Barber Torquay
in the original frame
Barber has been described as Queen Victoria’s favourite painter but perhaps he should be called a painter
of her favourite dogs … for a quarter of a century he painted over a dozen major paintings for the Queen.
In recent times he has had his followers, noticeably Mark Birley. Yet he remains an almost anonymous
figure. Briefly quoting from Harry Furness’s introduction to Charles Burton Barber, Cassell & Co 1896:
His heart was in the Highlands where he loved to paint the stag but the accident was that he
followed Landseer whom the pubic preferred; so he came down from the solitude of the
northern fastnesses and took to painting dogs and cats in the studio. For this must be held
responsible the picture dealers, who must have ruined as many reputations as they profess
to have made. … But it was after the dealers discovered the fact that the public bought pictures
of children and dogs that poor Barber’s fate was sealed; for he was allowed to do nothing else
– a state of affairs that he bitterly lamented. Writing to his brother in 1894 he said “Painting
for one’s own pleasure, making studies of such things as please you, for your own delectation,
is delightful, but manufacturing pictures for the market is just the devil”
I would suggest that the present picture falls in the first group. It remained in the family collection, was
never exhibited and surely was not commanded by the nefarious dealers who so blighted Barber’s career
– nor was it reproduced in one of those “sticky, evil‐smelling chromos”
He was not imaginative, he was not prolific, and he was not a “potboiler”. Had he been one he
would have rapidly amassed a fortune. He made a name and he left it to his imitators to make
the money. He loved animals, and he loved painting them; therefore his portraits of them gave
him pleasure. One can imagine that this little deer (it has been identified but I have mislaid
my note) gave him pleasure too
When he died at the young age of 49, Queen Victoria sent a representative to the funeral with a wreath
bearing the inscription “A mark of admiration and regard from Victoria R I”.
6
ANTONIO MARIA DE REYNA MANESCAU
1859 – 1937
A Venetian Caprice
oil on canvas 11 x 19 ½ inches
signed and dated lower right
in the original frame
Reyna, was one of a group of Spanish artists who popularised views of Venice – Jose Gallegos (1857 –
1917) and Martin Rico y Ortega (1833 – 1908) being two other exponents of this genre. Initially Reyna
was a portraitist and painter of Spanish genre scenes. He exhibited
regularily at the Salon des Beaux Arts in Paris but established his
Santa Maria del Giglio
reputation in Italy, painting an official portrait of Pope Benedict XV.
However it is as a Venetian painter that he is now best known – indeed
there is a short YouTube film of these views.
The present picture is particularly interesting as it is a caprice. We are
seeing Venice from the Giudecca but where the Salute should be we
have Santa Maria del Giglio; the Salute has moved to the Riva dei
Schiavoni, the centre of the picture showing Ruskin’s Hotel, the Calcina
and just visible my favourite the Seguso. What are we to make of this?
this is not just a tourist trophy, a view from your hotel – it is something
more serious. Guardi did it, Brabazon did it, so did the late much‐loved
Julian Barrow. Take your pick. You may call it finger‐nail painting –
I call it a delight.
7
AUGUSTIN-JEAN MOREAU-VAUTHIER
1831 – 1893
Sophronia
plaster 16 ½ inches in height
signed on the tree trunk
the lower right leg is missing
This is quite an ambitious identification of the subject but the face
is so reminiscent of Delacroix that I turned to that earlier artist;
think of the Barque of Dante and the face of the female damned.
And so to Clorinda rescues Olindo and Sophronia where we have a
semi naked female tied to the stake awaiting death by burning. It
is an episode within the epic poem Jerusalem Delivered (Tasso).
Delacroix exhibited the picture in 1856 so it is quite possible that
Moreau‐Vauthier would have seen it as his first exhibit at the Paris
Salon was the following year 1857. Perhaps this is a modello for a
subject which would develop with two figures.
For the most part Moreau‐Vauthier’s sculptures were pretty
anodyne – such subjects as Allegory of Fortune, Plenty, Nude on a
Seashore. However a group of plaster maquettes passed through
the market recently and from the poor photographs available it
seems that there were other pieces of a similar style to the present
work which were not cast in bronze. The Musee D’Orsay holds the
Moreau‐Vauthier papers.
The artist’s son Paul was also a sculptor – his Monument aux victims des Revolutions which is now
consigned to a wall on the exterior of Pere Lachaise is magnificent (see illustration above), though spoilt
by overcleaning and currently by graffiti.
8
JEAN PUY
1876 – 1960
Still life with fish on a plate, pomegranites and a cup
oil on panel 6 ¼ x 13 ½ inches
signed lower right and again on the verso and further inscribed 46 avenue des Tennes
in a period frame.
This picture is painted on the verso of a cut down panel: there is half a face on the verso (illustrated above)
which relates exactly to Nu Debout, Maria 1913 (offered at auction by Piasa, Paris lot 106 15.6.2012). Jean
Puy was one of the artists identified as a Fauve by the art critic Vauxelles : he wrote contemporary arthistorians disagree on who composes the actual Fauvist group. The only names we are actually sure of, are
those of Vlaminck, Derain, Matisse, Marquet, Puy, Manguin, Friesz, Dufy and Camoin. Whilst in no way radical
in its conception this charming picture, probably painted in the years immediately after the first war,
shows a subjective response to its subject expressed in undisguised brush strokes, rich in golden tones –
true Fauvist characteristics
9
THEODORE MAURISSET
Active 1834 – 1859
Partisans devoues de la Mode
watercolours and ink 6 ¾ x 4 ¼ inches
Maurisset was a painter, illustrator, engraver and caricaturist working in Paris in the mid 19th century. He
is best known for his lithograph Daguerreotypomania 1839 which pokes fun at the pandemonium caused
by the daguerrotype’s invention and chronicles the many ways entrepreneurs hoped to cash in on the
craze. It didn’t happen then, though the craze now for photographing everything is its descendant; these
partisans devoues de la mode, reappear as dedicated followers of fashion in the 1960s.
The J Paul Getty Museum holds an example of Daguerreotypomnia.
10
MARCEL DELMOTTE
1901 – 1984
Study of a Cauliflower
oil on canvas 22 ½ x 32 ½ inches
signed and inscribed Charleroi 1925 on the verso of the canvas.
This is an early and untypical work by the Belgian symbolist painter Delmotte. In his use of tone and light
one can anticipate his later works which range from neo‐classical nudes of an unexpected sensuality,
through magic realism to lunar landscapes and scenes of futuristic architecture. As to this picture – how
many paintings do you know of cauliflowers, cauliflowers and their magnificent leaves? It has a brooding
presence. I have framed it in a heavy late 19th century gilt frame but actually it’s modernity is best brought
out when it has no frame.
11
JACQUES NAM
pseudonym of Jacques Lehman
1881 – 1974
A Cat resting in a tree
grey washes, squared in blue chalks 23 x 18 ¼ inches
stamped with the studio stamp
Jacques Nam is known as the art deco painter par excellence of stylised cats. He worked as did many art
deco artists across several media. As an illustrator, one such book being inevitably entitled Chats as a
painter, as a sculptor, as a metal worker and in lacquer. There have been several sales in Paris of the
contents of his studio from whence the current drawing comes. This drawing could well be related to the
lacquer panel Le Cerisier (illustrated above) which was offered in Paris by Artcurial (21.11.2011) although
if LeCerisier were a print it would be easier to understand the reversed image.
12
WILLIAM BARRIBAL
1873 – 1956
Love Waiting For You
watercolour and mixed media on paper 18 ¾ x 14 ½ inches
on paper
signed
painted in 1918/19
On the verso is affixed a label giving the number 1052 and the title Waiting and Copyright the property of
The International Art Co, Florence House Barnes … .
This refers to the use of this image as a postcard published in 1921. Barribal studied at the Academy Julien
before the first war where he met both Cheret and Mucha. For a time in the 1920s his reputation in England
was similar to that of Cheret and Mucha in Paris. His images of the Barribal Girl were ubiquitous, appearing
in much popular culture: cigarette cards, playing cards and posters. The Barribal Girl was in fact drawn
from his wife, his only model: one source gives her name as Elinor Glyn but I suspect that is unreliable!
13
MARIETTE LYDIS
1887 – 1970
pencil 8 ¼ x 5 ½ inches
signed lower left
This is reproduced facing page 46
Lettres D’Amour de la Religieuse
Portugaise. Illustrations de
Mariette Lydis. Buenos Aires
MCMXLI. Janos Peter Kramer
Editeur. It appears at the end of
the Troisieme Lettre and might
well illustrate the text:
Adieu, il me semble que je vous parle trop souvent de l’estat insupportable ou je suis;
cependant je vous remercie dans le fonds de mon coeur du desespoir que vous me causez; et
je deteste la tranquillite ou j’ay vescu avant que je vous connusse. Adieu, ma passion augmente
a chaque moment. Ah! que j’ay de choses a vous dire.
These Lettres were published anonymously in 1669 ; much debate has continued as to the identity and
gender of the author. No text could have afforded Mariette Lydis such an opportunity to draw her favourite
subject, the sensual female.
Mariette Lydis originally born in Austria had a rich and peripatetic life, living in Greece, Italy, France,
England and finally Argentina; she married three times, her second husband being Jean Lydis, her third
Count Govoni. In England she lived in Winchcome, Gloucestershire during 1939 and 1940 with her amie
intime Erica Marx ; the couple then moved to Buenos Aires and later back to France where they died
within a year of each other. Her drawings and illustrations have rightfully been compared with the work
of Foujita.
14
ALAN LOWNDES
1921 – 1978
Bog’s cat, Lull-Belle 1951
oil on canvas 18 x 13 ½ inches
signed and dated 1951
This is an early picture by Lowndes. The following comments set the scene in Lowndes life when this
picture was painted.
It was Andras Kalman who first exhibited Alan Lowndes. “Then one evening he came to the
gallery on his own. To my surprise with a terrible stutter he said “ I,I,I,I,I, am a ppppainter,
wwwwould you lllllook at mmmmmmmmy pictures?” He had an interesting face not a
moronic face as go to football matches. I said “Yes, when?”. I asked him where he lived. He
said, “Stockport”. We went by bus and we got off near the market place. He took me up some
rickety stairs to a room where there ws no bed, only a mattress with a couple of blankets, and
there were a dozen or so paintings which had obviously been painted on old canvases, which
he would use, they were cheaper than new ones.
I looked at these paintings. They fascinated me. I felt he had genuine vision. We started to
talk and had a pint in the pub … I told him I was having an exhibition in about three weeks
time. This was 1950, I had opened in December 1949. I was to have an exhibition of Lucien
Freud, John Craxton and two others. I asked how many pictures Alan had. He said “Maybe 12
or 15”. I told him that in the little niche near my desk in the gallery, there was room for about
6 or 7 pictures. He was absolutely delighted.”
I quote from this account by Kalman from Jonathan Riley’s excellent biography on Lowndes. (Alan Lowndes
by Jonathan Riley published in 2010 by Construction Arts Ltd ISBN 978‐0‐9560505‐1‐9.) Riley goes on
to say:
Alan and Andras were to develop a friendship that went further than the dealer/artist
relationship. Andras must have seen something of himself in Alan, they were the same
diminutive size, both in a sense were outsiders struggling with nothing to succeed against
the odds. Alan came from a slum in Stockport, Andras was a Hungarian refugee, who had
come to study before the war.
Lowndes had to constantly explain himself along these lines to the question
“what kind of pictures do you paint?”
“Plain and coloured but mostly coloured”
“Not abstract?”
“No”
Terence Mullaly writing on Lowndes some years after this painting was made makes a pertinent comment
“Lowndes looks at the world directly. He has no use for conventions, either academic or avante
garde. What he does have is a considerable feeling for oil paint. At the same time and
most important he is a witty observer. Above all Alan Lowndes makes the ordinary seem
terribly important.”
Dec 13th 1972
Finally John Berger on Lowndes.
“His (Lowndes) essential spirit is as convivial as Lowry’s is lonely.”
15
JOHN BRATBY RA
1926 – 1992
Jean Tired and desk
Oil on canvas 32 x 48 inches
Signed lower left and again on the stretcher
Reproduced: Painters of Today – John Bratby ARA by Alan Clutton‐Brock, 1961
Painted between dec ’59 and april’ 60
Bratby’s home in Blackheath was furnished with large pieces of Victorian furniture. In his Desert Island
Disc interview of December 1960 he recounted:
“Last April I got a lot of pleasure from collecting heavily carved wooden furniture – I’ve got
a sideboard for instance which is heavily carved, with three mirrors at the back of it”
and whilst that sideboard (now in my possession) is not in this picture the desk and chair give an idea of
how it was in Hardy Road.
Bratby does not compose – the tritest detail remains in place from the telephone to the pot of ink – not
the slightest attempt is made to arrange things for our inspection. And here I am beginning to quote from
Clutton‐Brock;
“nothing is put away tidily but everything and everyone is all over the place although there
are artists living here this hardly seems to be the disorder of Bohemia. This impression, that
we are peering into a private world, is no illusion. Bratby himself says that he is “a pretty
hermit-like sort of character” and he is always engaged in a constant struggle to keep
people out.
Here Jean is not to be disturbed – she is tired and unhappy.
Bratby’s technique and style is essentially expressionist, and it is obvious that Van Gogh has
been a major influence on his work. His is an impulsive way of painting, or at least the success
of his method depends on giving the impression that it is impulsive. Every brush stroke has to
appear impetuous and alive…. To many expressionist artists colour is of particular importance
as a means of provoking emotional response. Bratby’s colour is seldom vivid but even when
sombre his colour can be strong. It is invented rather than observed, not based on any close
study of values, but well adapted to the character of the scene. At times it shows considerable
originality, as in the very positive effect by the ingenious use of whites…. So it is the forms
that have to do most of the work. Everything in his pictures comes out as it is written, in the
artist’s own handwriting, not at all an elegant hand, but one whose individual character is
immediately recognisable. Because of the opportunity they give him to display and reiterate
linear rhythms, he welcomes repeated patterns in his painting.
I quote Clutton‐Brock in length as he puts his finger so accurately on what makes Bratby’s art of the late
fifties , and this picture in particular, so important. Jean Tired and desk was the last picture in this style,
the culmination of what had made Bratby famous – by the early 60s Jean was to be supplanted as a subject,
and later as a wife, by a series of younger models.
16
RUSKIN SPEAR RA
1911 – 1990
Study against a black background
oil on canvas 55 x 40 inches
exhibited: Royal Academy 1969 no 568
Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech as delivered to the Conservative Political Centre in Birmingham
on the 2oth of April 1968 and he was asked to leave the government two days later. This painting was
exhibited at the Royal Academy one year later. Whilst the painting is not exact in all particulars, Powell
used no microphone and wore a white handkerchief, the image is clearly intended to convey the force of
the occasion. The title itself is revealing.
Powell does not look the spectator in the eye – he
does not engage with his audience. His message is
not debatable. This is undoubtedly the most
powerful of Spear’s numerous political portraits.
A very weak representation of Harold Wilson is in
the Government Art Collection; a smokey portait
of Wilson in the National Portrait Gallery; an
endearing portrait of Barbara Castle was exhibited
the previous year, 1968, at the Royal Academy.
Margaret Thatcher’s portrait is entitled True Blue.
His portraits of fellow artists and the great and the
good are, for the most part painted with affection
and often humour. It is not difficult to read the
artist’s feelings conveyed in the present portrait.
The painting hung on the line at the Academy, a
Bratby of Roses hanging above it.
17
The street artist known as
BAMBI
From Hero to Zero
hand printed stencil in black and pink ink
44 x 30inches
signed and inscribed A/P
This is one of the artists proof s (five in total) which vary from the published second edition of 100 as the
proof has the addition of the title and artist’s logo printed in pink. It was created in 2011.
Bambi is a street artist whose work first appeared on Islington walls in 2008. Her works on paper in
stencil have been collected in earnest in the last couple of years – in particular her image I am Too Hot for
my Burka has become a hot property. I do not know her identity although a show of recent work is planned
for my shop in the week before Christmas this year.
18
SIR EDUARDO PAOLOZZI
1924 – 2005
The Head of Maria
plaster 6 ¼ inches in height with traces of blue
paint from the collection of the artists assistant
Sabena Grinling
Paolozzi had an abiding interest in Fritz Lang’s early
film Metropolis 1927. He made models of many of
the characters. This is Maria. She must have been
cast from an existing sculpture – perhaps Egyptian.
It exists in a larger version.
19
SIR EDUARDO PAOLOZZI
1924 – 2005
A clenched fist with coloured gouache
plaster 5 ½ inches long
from the collection of the artists assistant
Sabena Grinling
There is no immediate sculpture for which this is
a study; it must have been a favourite of Paolozzi’s
as he cast it many times. However this is the only
one I have seen which he has painted. It is said that
on a visit to Paolozzi he was more likely to pour
you a plaster than a cup of tea.
catalogue 31
cover illustration James Hayllar no 2
Design: Jude Keen Ltd 020 8355 4541 Print: The Dorset Press 01305 251066