| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog Br-480 | |
| Auction House | Robins (Henry J. & George Henry) -- from catalog: Messrs. Robins | | Sale Location | Piazza, Covent-Garden, London, England, UK | | Seller(s) | from catalog: Assignees of V. and R. Green, Bankrupts | | Lugt Number | 7225 | | No. of Painting Lots | 26 | | Notes | The owners, Valentine Green and his son Rupert, were prominent engravers and publishers whose firm had fallen on hard times as a result of the war on the continent. In 1789, Pfalzgraf Karl Theodor had granted Valentine Green the exclusive right to publish engravings after pictures in the Düsseldorf Gallery, but the French invasion had ruined this plan and eventually caused Green's bankruptcy. The pictures, all of them copies after originals in Germany, were sold by James Christie in 1795, and a sale of the Greens' stock of engraved plates followed in 1799. Rupert Green died in 1803 and Valentine was made keeper of the British Institution in 1805. The present sale included engraved copperplates as well as pictures, among them both modern British works after which prints had been made and some lesser old masters. The sale also included some copies after paintings in the Düsseldorf Gallery, presumably left over from the earlier sales. It appears, however, that not everything belonged to the Greens; at least one lot had appeared in two previous auctions held by the same auctioneer, and so it is possible that others may have been added in like manner. The sale was held by the auctioneer Robins in Covent Garden, and the prices were appropriately modest. The highest figures -- £21 and £14.3 -- were fetched by two copies after Loutherbourg. Most of the remaining works, however, seem to have been bought in since they reappear at a later sale held by the same auctioneer on June 22 (no.514). (B. Fredericksen) | | Catalog Location(s) | VAL [annotations used in Sales Contents; photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. in pencil by the dealer Woodin with the prices for many of the pictures only. He has also marked one lot, which he evidently purchased. | | Photocopies | NGL and CIL (both of VAL) | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | |
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