| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog Br-604 | |
| Auction House | Christie's -- from catalog: Mr. Christie | | Sale Location | [No.125] Pall Mall, London, England, UK | | Seller(s) | from catalog: Formerly Collected by the Late Earl of Halifax, Deceased; [and] A Nobleman
from auctioneer's copy: Ld. Whitworth; Archdale; Bouverie; etc. | | Lugt Number | 7437 | | No. of Painting Lots | 209 | | Notes | The sale contained primarily paintings, as well as just a few drawings and frames. The only owner named on the title page of the catalogue is Lord Halifax, but 19 lots are also stated to belong to an unnamed "Nobleman." The CL, OGA and RKDH copies of the catalogue all identify the latter as Ld. Whitworth, indicating that it may have been common knowledge that lots 81-100 on the second day were his pictures. (At least two had come from the collection at Knole, formed by the Duke of Dorset whose widow Whitworth had married in 1802.) The CL copy gives the names of many more sellers as well. However, none of them can be connected with Ld. Halifax -- who died in 1771 -- and none of the pictures can be identified with works that appeared in the last known sales of his collection in 1782 and 1789. The catalogue does state, however, that the pictures had been "brought from his Villa, The Green House, Hampton Court," evidently referring to the building now called Hampton Court House (on Hampton Court Green) which was built in 1757 by Halifax for his mistress, Anna Maria Donaldson. On the Earl's death in 1771 the building was no longer inhabited either by any member of his family, or by any heir. If pictures owned by him were used to decorate the house, there is no reason to assume that they remained there after that date, and so this provenance, if correct, is probably 37 years old. However, some confirmation exists for it: the library of the "late Earl of Halifax" was sold by Sotheby's on Nov.21/25, 1806, his bronzes, porcelain and miscellaneous objects were sold by Christie's on Mar.14, 1807, and his furniture was sold by Christie's on Oct.1, 1807. The auctioneer's copy (at BML) of the first sale does not reveal who the proprietor was, but Christie's copy of the second catalogue lists a number of different owners, among whom the principal seller was "Archdall," and the same person is given as a buyer of many lots in the third sale. All of this corresponds to the "Archdale" who appears as a major seller in the present sale, and he is certainly the owner of the pictures that are supposed to have belonged to Halifax. Unfortunately, Archdale remains unidentified and so far no connection has been found between him and Halifax's heirs, presumably members of the family of Mrs. Donaldson. The paintings are for the most part undistinguished and generally fetched modest prices. Almost all of them were sold on the first day of the sale, and almost nothing on that day fetched more than £10; most lots brought well below that amount. The second day, which included Ld. Whitworth's pictures, went much better with some lots selling for more than £100. The best prices were in fact brought by Ld. Whitworth's paintings, among which are worth mentioning Ruisdael's The Mill (now in the Royal Collection) which reached £192.3, and Gainsborough's Wood Scene with Gypsies reposing (untraced) which cost £163.16. (B. Fredericksen) | | Catalog Location(s) | CL [annotations used in Sales Contents; photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Auctioneer's copy, annot. with all sellers, most buyers and all prices. The buyers and prices are in pencil. The reserves are also given for many lots.
OGA [annotations used in Sales Contents; photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. by Geo. Watson with a few buyers, all prices, indicating which lots were sold and which bought in, and a few notes. Watson was working from a marked set of catalogues deposited by the auctioneers in the Excise Office.
VAL I [annotations used in Sales Contents; photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. in pencil by the dealer Woodin with the initials of a few buyers and most prices.
RKDH [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. by the dealer John Smith with the buyers of lots 85, 88-90, and many prices.
AAP [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. in pencil by J. Galpine with some notes giving the approximate dimensions.
VAL II [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Not annot. | | Photocopies | NGL and CIL (both of VAL I and II) | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | |
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