| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog Br-1980 | |
| Auction House | Christie's -- from catalog: Mr. Christie | | Sale Location | Premises, [No.14] Newman St., London, England, UK | | Seller(s) | from catalog: Benjamin West, Esq. P.R.A. Deceased, the Late Venerable President of the Royal Academy
from auctioneer's copy: [Same] | | Lugt Number | 9830 | | No. of Painting Lots | 155 | | Notes | Because of the prominence of the proprietor, Benjamin West, a great deal more is known about the circumstances surrounding this sale than virtually any other from this period. West had died in March, 1820, and Farington (Diaries, 1820, Apr.17, 19, 21, 28 & May 14) records that in mid-April West's solicitor first proposed that Wm. Bullock's rooms in Piccadilly might be used for the sale of West's collection of paintings executed by other artists. Subsequently, others recommended Christie instead. On April 27 James Christie viewed the collection at West's home in Newman St. and discussed with his son and executor Raphael about how the sale would be conducted. By mid-May Christie had drawn up a draught of the catalogue that presumably included the reserves agreed with Raphael West, although Farington often cautioned them on expecting too much and indicated that he thought the reserves were being placed too high. West had left outstanding debts of about £10/11,000 owed to his bank and it was hoped that the sale of his older pictures would settle this. The first sale, consisting of his drawings and prints, was held on June 9/14 (no.1965), and the second more important sale, the present one, was held on June 23/24. A third that included less important paintings was then held on July 1/6 (no.1986). At first it was generally believed that all had gone well, and the annotator of CL II records an impressive total of £13,336.15 for the two days of the present sale. But some days later word began to circulate that many paintings had been bought in, and on July 6 Raphael West informed Farington that, in fact, the sale had gone very badly, apparently the result of having set the reserves too high (Diaries, June 23-24, 28, July 5-6, 9 and Nov.6). The younger West later told Farington that about £6000 had been realized -- presumably from all three sales -- all of which had gone directly to pay off the banker. Dawson Turner (in the CL III copy of the catalogue) records a figure of £3778.12.6 for the picture sale, a significant amount but well below the family's expectations. The failure of the three sales caused the family to alter their plans to build a gallery in the home to exhibit the paintings executed by West himself, and these were eventually sold some years later, in 1829. The unsold paintings from the present sale were offered again at Christie's on May 28, 1824, where, in spite of lowered reserves, many of them once more failed to find buyers. It appears that Farington's worries about the collection having been overvalued were well founded, although a number of paintings did, in fact, bring impressive prices. The highest price was realized by a landscape by Berchem, which was bought for £472.10. (It's present location is unknown.) The collector William Esdaile paid £304.10 for a landscape by Hobbema. (This is now in the Glasgow Art Gallery.) Higher prices were recorded in the sale, but for lots that did not find buyers. A depiction of the Death of Actaeon by Titian, apparently thought to be the most valuable painting in the sale, was bought in at £1785 against a reserve of £2900. When resold in 1824 it was passed at £1000 and has since been lost. The provenance given for it in the catalogue was completely erroneous, and this type of error and overestimation seems to have typified much of the collection. (See also Geo. Redford, Art Sales, 1888, I, p.119; and Wm. Roberts, Memorials of Christie's, 1897, I, pp.94-96.) (B. Fredericksen) | | Catalog Location(s) | CL I [annotations used in Sales Contents; photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Auctioneer's copy, annot. with all buyers and prices.
HSNY Annot. with all buyers and prices.
NGL [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with all buyers and prices.
VAL Annot. with all buyers and prices.
RKDH I [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. by the dealer John Smith with most buyers and all prices (in guineas) for the first day. The second day is annot. with the buyer of lot 80 and all prices (again in guineas).
CL III Annot. with some buyers and all prices. The latter are in two columns, indicating which lots were sold and which bought in. The catalogue belonged to Dawson Turner and is not part of the auctioneer's set.
IFP Annot. in ink and pencil with some buyers and all prices.
BMPL I Annot. with a few buyers and all prices. It belonged to the dealer Thane.
CL II [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with the buyer of one lot as well as all prices.
NGD Annot. with all prices in guineas as well as a few notes. There are also marks indicating whether the paintings were upright or horizontal. The catalogue is contained in a volume that evidently belonged to Geo. Meade and the annotations may be his.
MMNY Annot. with a few buyers and most prices. It belonged to J.P. Anderdon and the annotations may be his.
BLO [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with a few buyers and comments as well all prices. It belonged to Francis Douce and the annotations are his.
BMPL II Annot. with all prices.
RKDH II Annot. with most prices.
FLNY Annot. in pencil with most prices.
EBNP I Not annot. excepting a later note by lot 70 on the first day.
CIL [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Not annot. It belonged to Sir Abraham Hume.
AAP [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Not annot.
EBNP II Not annot.
SML Not annot. | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | Digitized Catalog - GRI | | | |
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