| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog Br-263 | |
| Auction House | Christie's -- from catalog: Mr. Christie | | Sale Location | [No.125] Pall Mall, London, England, UK | | Seller(s) | Buchanan, William
from catalog: Lately Imported from Italy
from other sources: [William Buchanan] | | Lugt Number | 6801 | | No. of Painting Lots | 10 | | Notes | This was the second of two sales held on May 12 and was devoted to just 12 lots of paintings, described as having been lately imported from Italy. No proprietor is mentioned, and the auctioneer's (CL) copy of the catalogue does not give one either. However, both of the JPGM copies are inscribed with the name of "Mr Buchanan," and it is certain that William Buchanan, the Scottish dealer with premises in Oxenden St., was their consigner. He discusses the sale in a series of letters (reprinted in H. Brigstocke, William Buchanan and the Nineteenth-Century Art Trade, 1982, especially pp.232ff.) continuing until the end of May, describing in considerable detail his preparations for the sale and his expectations for the results. Buchanan was even permitted to draft the text of the catalogue. In spite of his claim, not all of the paintings had recent Italian pedigrees. The first two lots, described only as cartoons by Raphael, had evidently come from two Scottish ladies named Forbes (cf. Brigstocke, p.262). The remainder consisted of pictures he had not been able to sell privately, most of them copies or works of dubious quality, and including just one of demonstrable importance, the Van Dyck triple portrait of Charles I now in the British Royal collection. Buchanan also seriously overestimated the value of the group and set the reserves too high on the best three lots, causing them to be bought in. Moreover, for reasons not yet known, the first four lots -- all attributed to Raphael and including the cartoons from Scotland -- were withdrawn. So only three pictures were ultimately sold and Buchanan did not recoup his costs. A souvenir of the sale is preserved in the form of a drawing by Buchanan which shows how he proposed to have the paintings hung in Christie's sale room (Brigstocke, p.267). This gives some idea of the approximate dimensions of those pictures which are no longer traceable. (B. Fredericksen) | | Catalog Location(s) | JPGM I [annotations used in Sales Contents; photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with all buyers and prices. It belonged to Wm. Seguier and perhaps before that to his father David.
JPGM II [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with all buyers and prices.
CL [annotations used in Sales Contents] Auctioneer's copy, annot. in pencil with most buyers and prices.
VAL Annot. with most prices.
YCNH [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Not annot.
CIL Not annot. From the collection of Sir Abraham Hume. | | Photocopies | NGL and RKDH (both of YCNH) and BIB (of JPGM I) | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | Digitized Catalog - GRI | | | |
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