| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog Br-913 | |
| Auction House | Christie's -- from catalog: Mr. Christie | | Sale Location | [No.125] Pall Mall, London, England, UK | | Seller(s) | from catalog: A Gentleman of Refined Taste
from auctioneer's copy: Philip Hill; Col. Braddyll; etc. | | Lugt Number | 8044 | | No. of Painting Lots | 125 | | Notes | At least three copies of the catalogue (OGA, RKDH I and VAL I) are printed with the date July 2, indicating that the sale was postponed one day. There is another difference in the two versions: lot 68a in the earlier (Type A) catalogue consists of a pair of views by Van der Neer, whereas in the later (Type B) version it is a Finding of the Tribute Money by Rubens. (The painting by Van der Neer seems to have been an error, duplicating lot 58a.) We have utilized Type B for this Index. The contents of the sale were pictures which were preceded by ten lots of drawings. The owner given on the title page was simply a "gentleman" over which the annotator of the RKDH II copy has written: "the property of Philip Hill Esq.re, Greek Street." George Watson has written "Mr. Hill and Capt. Agar" on the OGA copy. The auctioneer's copy (CL) confirms that Hill, who was one of the leading dealers in London at this time, owned the largest number of lots, but the name of "Capt. Agar" is not found in that copy, and Watson's reasons for mentioning it are not known. Watson has also written a note on page 3 of the OGA catalogue that elaborates somewhat on the names of the sellers found in the CL copy: "These pictures belonged to Messrs. T. Bradyll, E. Lascelles, Thos. Grignon, A Delahante, J. Salons, C. Birch, L. Foreman & Mrs. Holcroft." All can be identified except "J. Salons" who does not appear as a seller in Christie's records. It is clear from the high prices recorded at this sale that major works were included. A landscape by Claude, for instance, was knocked down for 390 guineas (it is now in the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City), and a Correggio with the Heads of the Virgin and Child supposedly fetched 340 guineas. However, all but 13 lots were actually bought in, and the total receipts for the entire sale came to no more than £239! Such results were common during this period of economic distress, and even the major dealers, whose reserves were clearly too high, were apparently having difficulty anticipating what the market would bear. (B. Fredericksen) | | Catalog Location(s) | CL [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Auctioneer's copy, annot. with all sellers, buyers and prices. Many of the reserves are also recorded. (Type B)
RKDH II [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. in ink and pencil with a few buyers and most prices, as well as a few notes. (Type B)
VAL I Annot. in pencil by the dealer Woodin with the initials of a few buyers and most prices. (Type A)
OGA [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with all prices, indicating which lots were sold and which bought in. The annotator was Geo. Watson who was working from a marked set of catalogues deposited by the auctioneers in the Excise Office. (Type A)
VAL II Annot. in ink and pencil with many prices.
NGL Annot. primarily in pencil with most prices for lots 1-90. (Type A)
RKDH I Not annot. (Type A)
CIL [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Not annot. (Type B) | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | |
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