| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog Br-334 | |
| Auction House | Christie's -- from catalog: Mr. Christie | | Sale Location | Premises, [No.59 Pall Mall], London, England, UK | | Seller(s) | Boydell, John and Josiah
Tassie, William
from catalog: Messrs. Boydell's
from auctioneer's copy: [Same]
from other sources: [William Tassie] | | Lugt Number | 6951 | | No. of Painting Lots | 167 | | Notes | The sale was devoted to 167 pictures and three marble bas-reliefs commissioned for the Shakespeare Gallery of Alderman John Boydell, the print publisher. The gallery's conception dated from 1786 and the specially designed building for the paintings in Pall Mall had been opened three years later. Virtually all of the prominent English history painters from the late eighteenth century were represented, and as a result the gallery had acquired considerable fame. Boydell had gone bankrupt in 1804, and decided to put the gallery up for sale by lottery, but he died shortly before this could take place. The winner of the lottery -- which was held in January, 1805 -- was William Tassie, a gem modeller in Leicester Square. Boydell's nephew and partner, Josiah, attempted then to buy back the gallery, but Tassie insisted on selling it at auction. Announcements by the auctioneer William Stewart indicate that Tassie at first had an arrangement with him to sell the pictures on May 16/18, 1805, but eventually the sale was taken over by James Christie and postponed until May 17/19. It took place on the premises at the gallery in Pall Mall and was highly successful. The prices ranged from very high to very low, but a significant number of lots fetched amounts that were considered very good at the time. After the sale, in order to publicize the results, a second version of the catalogue was printed that included all of the prices and buyers. In most cases the printed version gives a more complete form of the buyer's name than the auctioneer's (CL) annotated copy, and in a few cases the CL copy has the name of the person bidding, whereas the printed souvenir has that of the buyer whom the bidder was representing. (A few other variations in the buyers' names are found in the annotated copy which belonged to Boydell's niece, Mary Nicol, now at BIB.) This is the only sale from this period which had a souvenir catalogue of this kind. It is also reprinted by John Pye (Patronage of British Art, 1845, pp.279-284).
The highest prices were fetched by two paintings of Sir Joshua Reynolds, honored as the greatest member of the British school, and among the first contributors to the gallery. The Death of Cardinal Beaufort was bought for £530.5 by the auctioneer Harry Phillips who was bidding for Ld. Egremont. This was the highest price realized by any British painting during this period, and very close to the generous fee paid Reynolds in 1789. It remains at Petworth, the Egremont residence. The other picture was the last painting in the sale, Macbeth and the Witches, which cost £378 and whose buyer is given as "Dewis" in Christie's annotated catalogue, but which was apparently an error for "Lewis." It reappeared for sale under the latter's name in 1807 and was bought in at a still higher figure. It too was eventually acquired by Ld. Egremont, and rejoined the other canvas at Petworth. Only one picture was not sold, perhaps because it was withdrawn. The total receipts for the sale came to £6181.18.6, making it one of the most successful auctions from this time. (See also Wm. Roberts, Memorials of Christie's, 1897, I, pp.73-74, and especially Winifred H., Friedman, Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, 1976.) (B. Fredericksen) | | Catalog Location(s) | CL [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Auctioneer's copy, annot. with all buyers and prices.
BIB II Annot. with all buyers and prices. The catalogue belonged to Mary Nicol, the niece of John and sister of Josiah Boydell, who was the wife of Boydell's publishing partner, Geo. Nicol. It is uncertain whether the annotations are hers, however.
PLDe II Printed with all buyers and prices, as well as some additional notes by Thos. Pares about pictures bought for his own collection.
YCNH II [annotations used in Sales Contents; photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Printed with all buyers and prices. From the collection of Ld. Northwick.
RKDH Printed with all prices and buyers.
CIL II Printed with all buyers and prices.
VAL II Printed with all buyers and prices.
EBNP Printed with all buyers and prices.
BLO II Printed with all buyers and prices.
BIB I [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Printed with all buyers and prices.
CSML Printed with all buyers and prices.
RLM Printed with all buyers and prices. Not located 1989.
PLDe III Printed with all buyers and prices. From the collection of Thos. Pares.
PLDe IV Printed with all buyers and prices. From the collection of Thos. Pares
PLDe I Annot. with a few buyers and most prices. The catalogue belonged to Thos. Pares and he has marked his own purchases with an "x".
CIL I Annot. with all prices.
VAL I Annot. in ink and pencil with all prices, probably by the dealer Woodin.
SML Annot. with all prices. From the collection of Sir John Soane.
NGD Annot. with all prices. It belonged to Geo. Meade whose name is written at the top of the title page, and the annotations may be his.
MMNY Annot. with one buyer's name and a few comments.
AAP Annot. with some prices.
YCNH I [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Not annot. From the collection of Ld. Northwick.
BLO I [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Not annot. From the Gough collection.
FLNY Not located.
RL Not seen. | | Photocopies | NGL (of JPGM), BMPL (of YCNH I) and FC (of CIL) | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | Digitized Catalog - Met | | | |
|
|