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DocumentSale Catalog Br-1955
Auction HousePhillips (Harry) -- from catalog: Mr. Phillips
Sale LocationNo.73 New Bond St., London, England, UK
Seller(s)from catalog: A Gentleman, Deceased
from other sources: [Scrope Bernard Morland; Capt. Verrall; etc.]
Lugt Number9800
No. of Painting Lots247
NotesThis sale holds more than usual interest in spite of its anonymous character. It was a fairly large two-day sale of pictures described by the catalogue as being a part of a collection "formed at considerable expence [sic]" by a deceased gentleman. It was supposedly held by order of his executrix. This assertion may be only partially true. At least 16 of the paintings can be traced to the banker/dealer William Morland, who had died in 1815, and so he might be the deceased gentleman mentioned in the catalogue. It is known that some of Morland's pictures had passed to his widow, but others, including many of those in the present sale, appear to have gone to his son-in-law, Sir Scrope Bernard Morland. A few had appeared under the latter's name at Christie's on Apr.25, 1818 (no.1660), so we have used his name for those lots in the present sale that can definitely be traced to the Morland family. However, a larger number of lots in the sale, totaling well over fifty altogether, can be traced to the last exhibition held by the European Museum in May, 1819 (no.1797). These had belonged to several different consigners, as well as to the European Museum itself, meaning presumably its owner, John Wilson. The European Museum evidently went out of business at about this time, and it appears that a significant portion of their remaining stock had been given to Phillips to sell at auction, although no mention of this is made in the catalogue. It is difficult to conjecture about these pictures since none have been traced, but it is certain that some of Morland's paintings were of importance. A number had been purchased by Wm. Morland from Wm. Young Ottley in the first decade of the century, and these included the Marriage of St. Catharine by Parmigianino (now in the London National Gallery), as well as Claude's Dido and Aeneas at Carthage (now in the Hamburg Kunsthalle). A few of these paintings, including the picture by Parmigianino, reappeared as the property of his son, Sir Francis Morland, Bart., at Christie's on May 19, 1832. (B. Fredericksen)
Catalog Location(s)PL Auctioneer's copy, destroyed either during or shortly after World War II. According to Lugt it was not annot., but it probably had the names of the sellers and buyers as well as the prices.
??? [photocopy in Provenance Index Sales Files] Not annot. [dept. copy missing 02/2018]
PhotocopiesJPGM (of unknown original)
See AlsoSale Contents
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