| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog Br-238 | |
| Auction House | Christie's -- from catalog: Mr. Christie | | Sale Location | [No.125] Pall Mall, London, England, UK | | Seller(s) | Smith, Matthew, Col.
Morland, William
from catalog: An eminent collector [and] Recently Consigned to this Country
from auctioneer's copy: Smith; M.; etc. | | Lugt Number | 6740 | | No. of Painting Lots | 155 | | Notes | This two-day sale consisted entirely of paintings, all but four of which were supposedly the property of a single "eminent collector." The auctioneer's (CL) copy of the catalogue indicates that six different consigners were represented, but that most lots -- 110 altogether -- belonged to "M," who can be identified as the banker/dealer and M.P. William Morland. He was, therefore, probably the "eminent collector" in question. It can be demonstrated, however, that nine of his lots were actually the property of a fellow banker, Thos. Hammersley, who is known to have consigned them to Morland's partner, T.M. Slade, to sell. (This is recorded in a receipt by Slade dated March 9, 1804.) A smaller group of fourteen lots belonged to "Smith" who was certainly Col. Matthew Smith, and twelve lots derived from "W," without question one of the Woodburn family, probably John Woodburn. A few miscellaneous lots were submitted by "Law" and "Hanken." The last four lots, by Bononi, Guercino, Veronese and Scarsellino (the latter called "Carracci" on the title page), are described in the catalogue as having come recently from "the Chapel of a religious House near Ferrara." The CL catalogue identifies their owner as "M.S." which appears to have been altered to read "M.B." All four lots were bought in -- two of them by Thos. M. Slade -- and then reappeared on March 16, 1805 (no.313) as the property of Sir Francis Baring. So M.S. may refer to "Mr. Slade" and M.B. to "Mr. Baring," but this is uncertain.
The title page refers to three lots as deserving special attention: Christ bearing the Cross by Rubens, A Man holding a Horse by Jordaens, and The Family of Darius offering the Crown to Alexander by Domenichino. All three belonged to Morland and all three were bought in. (The painting by Jordaens is now in the Kinnaird collection at Rossie Priory.) This result was altogether typical for the sale, from which 84 lots were left unsold, including virtually everything that was knocked down for more than £20. The principal exception was lot 67 on the second day, described as The Resurrection by Tintoretto, which was sold for £81.18. (It is since untraced.) Most lots fetched prices well below £10. (B. Fredericksen) | | Catalog Location(s) | CL [annotations used in Sales Contents] Auctioneer's copy, annot. with all sellers, most buyers and all prices.
ISGB Not annot. excepting some comments and the prices for lots 56-78 on the second day.
YCNH [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Not annot. | | Photocopies | BIB, NGL, CIL and RKDH (all of YCNH) | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | |
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