| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog Br-502 | |
| Auction House | Coxe (Peter) -- from catalog: Peter Coxe | | Sale Location | Premises, No.24 Somerset St., Portman Square, London, England, UK | | Seller(s) | from catalog: George Stubbs | | Lugt Number | 7254 | | No. of Painting Lots | 94 | | Notes | Stubbs died in July, 1806, and Farington records in his Diary (June 3, 1807) that the pictures from his studio -- which comprise the contents of the present sale -- had been claimed by an unnamed lady who had advanced the artist some money. He adds that the lady had used agents to bid up the prices and that many lots had been bought in because she had refused to accept reasonable offers. In an entry written a few days later (on June 6), he softens the image somewhat by referring to the lady as a friend of Stubbs who had been "ill-advised." It was apparently not known at the time that the woman, Mary Spencer, was Stubbs's common-law wife with whom he had lived for many years and that the artist had left her the substance of his estate, including the contents of his studio. Judging from the OGA copy of the catalogue, which is annotated by Geo. Watson, the sale had in fact gone very well -- a total of nearly £3500 was realized -- and few lots were bought in. The pictures that Mary Spencer kept for herself were sold after her death a decade later. Besides paintings, the sale also contained drawings, prints and enamels, as well as a few pictures by old masters. The highest price was £367.10, paid for a large portrait of a tiger (now the property of Ld. Portman?). Unfortunately none of the extant catalogues are well annotated with the names of purchasers. (B. Fredericksen) | | Catalog Location(s) | CIL II Annot. in pencil by J. Galpine with a few buyers, some prices and the approximate dimensions for some lots. All of the annotations are difficult to read. Moreover, the catalogue is imperfectly bound and has two copies of the folio with pp.5-8 but lacks the folio with pp.9-12. The annotator has written by hand at the bottom of the page many of the missing lots.
VAL II [annotations used in Sales Contents; photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. in ink and pencil by the dealer Woodin with all prices. He has also placed his initial by those lots he purchased for himself.
OGA [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. by Geo. Watson with all prices and an additional lot, also indicating which lots were sold and which bought in. Watson was working from a marked set of catalogues deposited by the auctioneers in the Excise Office.
VAL I Annot. in pencil by the dealer Woodin with the prices -- including those of the paintings -- for lots 1-51 on the first day only.
CIL I Annot. in pencil by a modern hand with the prices for lots 1-98. The latter are supposed to have been copied from a catalogue that belonged to Marlborough Rare Books in 1956.
FLNY Annot. in pencil with a few prices.
MMNY Annot. with a single comment on lot 88 by J.H. Anderdon, to whom the catalogue later belonged.
YCNH [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Not annot.
RKDH Not annot. | | Photocopies | BMPL (of YCNH), and BIB and NGL (both of CIL) | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | Digitized Catalog - Frick | | | |
|
|