| | | | | | | | Document | Sale Catalog Br-11 | |
| Auction House | Christie's -- from catalog: Mr. Christie | | Sale Location | [No.125] Pall Mall, London, England, UK | | Seller(s) | Woodhouse, John
from catalog: John Woodhouse, Esq.
from auctioneer's copy: [Same] | | Lugt Number | 6197 | | No. of Painting Lots | 35 | | Notes | The owner, John Woodhouse, is listed in London directories as a stockbroker with premises in Tokenhouse Yard. John Thomas Smith (A Book for a Rainy Day, 1845 [1905 ed.], p.116) describes him as having been "many years principal cashier in Sir George Prescott's banking-house" and a collector of Cipriani's drawings. A series of sales of his possessions began with an extended one held by Christie on Jan.22/27, 1801 (Lugt 6181) dedicated to his prints, followed by another on Feb.11/21 (Lugt 6194) of a comparable character. A few days later the present sale was held containing paintings and drawings. A fourth sale on Feb.27/28 (Lugt 6207), also held by Christie, contained a much larger number of drawings, some of which were by Cipriani, confirming the identification made by Smith. In the same year, the much smaller auctioneer King began holding sales of prints and drawings which may have included unsold items from the earlier sales, as well as other, lesser, parts of the collection. Since London directories until 1808 also list a print dealer of the same name with premises in Duke's Court, St. Martin's Lane, it is conceivable that some of these sales should be associated with him rather than our banker. However, the first of the King sales, held on April 22/24 (Lugt 6237), and held under the pseudonym J.G. Battani, also contained prints after Cipriani, and an annotation in the RKDH copy of the catalogue indicates that J.T. Smith was buying in for the proprietor, Woodhouse. So it seems reasonable that all of the subsequent sales held by King were in fact dedicated to the property of the same person. These sales extended as late as 1807. (See no.221.) Woodhouse was apparently still alive throughout this period, although he may not have been in London since the catalogue of the sale held in April, 1801, states that he was leaving England. (This might also have been a ruse to support the identification of the seller as an Italian, J.G. Battani.) From these sales, it is clear that Woodhouse, whom Smith also describes as having bought fine things but with manners that were, at times "a little repulsive," was primarily a collector of drawings and prints. Nonetheless, it appears that his small collection of paintings was also well chosen. They consisted almost entirely of Dutch and British pictures, a few of which have been identified. The highest price, £136.10, was paid for the last lot, a small painting of cows by Potter that was bought by the dealer Michael Bryan (now in the collection of the Duke of Sutherland). The penultimate lot, a small landscape by Berchem, was also bought by Bryan at a price of £120.15. Of the British pictures, the most expensive was a landscape by Gainsborough which fetched £63 (now in the Tate Gallery). Most lots brought more than £20 and only a few were bought in. Woodhouse's books were sold by Leigh, Sotheby on Dec.12/16, 1803. (B. Fredericksen) | | Catalog Location(s) | CL [annotations used in Sales Contents] Auctioneer's copy, annot. with all buyers and prices.
MMNY [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. by J. Galpine with some buyers, prices, comments and notes giving the approximate sizes. The catalogue belonged later to J.H. Anderdon.
VAL II Annot. with a few buyers and all prices.
BMPL Annot. with a few buyers and all prices by the dealer John Thane, to whom the catalogue belonged.
OGA [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. by Geo. Watson with a few buyers and all prices, as well as x's by those lots that were bought in. Watson was working from a fully marked set deposited by the auctioneers in the Excise Office.
JPGM [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Annot. with a few buyers' names. Belonged to Wm. Seguier and perhaps earlier to his father David.
ISGB Completely priced and annot. with a few notes and comments.
EBNP Completely priced.
BML II Completely priced.
FMC Priced in pencil. From the collection of the Rev. Thos. Kerrich.
NGW Annot. with all prices.
RKDH Paintings only have been priced. The catalogue belonged originally to the dealer Geo. Baker.
??? [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] JPGM has photocopy made from an unidentified original. Annot. with most prices for the paintings only.
VAL I Not annot.
BML I Not annot.
SML Not annot.
BIB Not annot. | | Photocopies | NGL and CIL (both of VAL II) and FLNY (of OGA) | | See Also | Sale Contents | | | Art Sales Catalogues Online | | | Digitized Catalog - GRI | | | Digitized Catalog - Met | | | Digitized Catalog - Frick | | | |
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