| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog Br-512 | |
| Auction House | Christie's -- from catalog: Mr. Christie | | Sale Location | [No.125] Pall Mall, London, England, UK | | Seller(s) | from catalog: Consigned within a few weeks past from the continent
from auctioneer's copy: Lafontaine | | Lugt Number | 7271 | | No. of Painting Lots | 44 | | Notes | The sale consisted of 44 lots of major old master paintings, which, according to the catalogue, had been recently consigned from the continent. The owner's name is not mentioned but was obviously well known since a number of the existing catalogues have the name of the prominent French dealer Lafontaine inscribed on them. Judging from what is known of the provenance of some of the individual paintings, they had indeed been purchased on the continent within the last few years and then brought to London. Farington (Diary, June 4, 1807) tells of going with Thos. Lawrence and Henry De Cort to visit Lafontaine in his hotel, the Sablonieres in Leicester Square, where they saw some of the pictures which were to to appear in the sale. (A few days later, on June 10, Farington mentions that the paintings had been imported by a "Fleming," and because Lafontaine was French, it is possible that he is referring to Philippe Panné, the Flemish dealer who seems to have been the London representative for many continental dealers such as Alexis Delahante, and others.) Angerstein was also present during the visit at Lafontaine's and Farington records his and other comments on the pictures, which were generally favorable. The star of the group was Rembrandt's Christ and the Adulteress, over which there was a heated debate at the time. Farington (Diary, June 10 and 12-14) relays the opinions of various artists about its authorship and quality, the majority finding it one of the painter's chefs d'oeuvre. The reserves placed on the pictures by Lafontaine were very high, and in spite of the numerous prominent collectors and dealers who attended the sale -- some of their names are given by Farington -- a large number of the lots did not sell. The CL copy does not distinguish between those that found buyers and those that did not, but the OGA copy, annotated by Geo. Watson who had access to a copy used by the Excise Office, reveals that 21 of the 44 lots were bought in. These included most of the expensive lots, as well as the Rembrandt. Farington recounts that Lafontaine had demanded £5000 for the Rembrandt and that at the sale it was knocked down for £5250. Upon enquiring, however, Farington and Lawrence were told by Christie that the picture had been bought in, and that if the owner did not receive the figure he expected, the painting would be taken back to Paris for resale to the Louvre. Lawrence had been authorized to buy the Rembrandt for a lesser amount for Angerstein, and the next day this was accomplished by Angerstein himself. (The painting is now in the National Gallery, London.) Geo. Watson records that the final price was £4500, an exceptional figure for the time. The prices for the other paintings were much lower, the nearest being £493.10, which was paid by Walsh Porter for a Sea Piece reputedly by Rembrandt (no longer identifiable). The total figure realized by the sale was £1873.4, which does not include the Rembrandt. The bought-in figure was seven times that amount. It is still unclear what happened to the pictures that failed to sell. They may indeed have been taken back to France, as the dealer had threatened to do with the Rembrandt. (See also Redford, Art Sales, 1888, I, pp.99-100; and Wm. Roberts, Memorials of Christie's, 1897, I, pp.77-79.) (B. Fredericksen) | | Catalog Location(s) | CL [annotations used in Sales Contents] Auctioneer's copy, annot. with all buyers and prices. There are also notes about buyers' remittances from the banks.
OGA [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. by Geo. Watson with a few buyers and all prices, 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.
RKDH II [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with the buyer of lot 30, all prices and comments by lots 32 and 42.
CIL [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. in pencil with the buyer of lot 44 as well as prices for lots 30-44.
RKDH I [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with all prices and a few comments. The annotator may have been the dealer John Smith.
MMNY [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with all prices and a note by lot 44. It is inscribed with the initials of J.H. Anderdon, who apparently inherited it from his father J.P. Anderdon.
EBNP Annot. with all prices, probably by the dealer William Collins, who may have originally owned the catalogue.
VAL I [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with all prices.
VAL II Annot. with all prices.
AAP [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with all prices.
FLNY Not annot.
YCNH [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Not annot. | | Photocopies | NGL (of YCNH) | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | Digitized Catalog - Met | | | |
|
|