16th Jul, 2022 9:30 GMT/BST
British, European and Sporting Art
1020
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones Bt, ARA, RWS (1833-1898)
Full length nude study in three quarters profile holding a sword in his right hand and resting on right shoulder, (preliminary sketch for part of a stained glass window for the Council Chambers of Dundee City)
Charcoal with pencil squared up for transfer, on buff paper, 30.5cm by 15cm
The drawing is a preliminary study for a stained-glass window made for the Dundee Council Chambers. The window (which is now dismantled) was inscribed with the name of the person represented, 'James Haliburton', provost of Dundee, 'born mdxi died mdlxxxviii', and also stating that he was 'member of parliament, statesman, soldier, reformer, [and that] he was a conspicuous leader in the great events of his age'. This was one of four lights, each showing historical personages connected with the city of Dundee. The entire scheme was commissioned from Morris and Co. in the late 1880's and designed by Burne-Jones. The window showing Haliburton was presented to the city of Dundee by William Hunter, Lord Provost of Dundee 1887-1890, and was installed in 1889. Burne-Jones’s cartoons for the scheme were presented to Birmingham City Art Gallery in 1901. An entry in Burne-Jones account book from 1888 refers to '3 figures for Dundee £20 each ... [making] £60. Haliburton, Dundee ... £20'.
The present full length male nude study corresponds closely to the figure in the stained glass, in which James Haliburton is shown in three-quarters profile turning to the viewer's right, and with a sword in his right hand and which rests on his right shoulder.
See A. Charles Sewter, The Stained Glass of William Morris and his Circle, two volumes, New Haven, 1974, I, figure 603 (showing the stained-glass), and II, pp. 63-4.
We are grateful to Christopher Newall for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Sold for £1,000
Estimated at £500 - £800
Auction: British, European and Sporting Art, 16th Jul, 2022
'In a Ligurian Garden', an important lost work by Henry Herbert La Thangue, is to be sold in the British, European and Sporting Art Sale on 16th July with an estimate of £70,000-100,000 plus buyer's premium. The painting was recently rediscovered in Yorkshire, having been passed down through the family of Sir William Prince-Smith (1898-1964) and his wife Marjorie, manufacturers of textile machinery from Keighley, West Yorkshire. View lot
Henry Herbert La Thangue RA (1859-1929) was one of the leading exponents of British Impressionism, who had become enamoured with painting 'en plein air' on a youthful painting trip to Brittany in 1881 with friend and fellow artist Stanhope Forbes, one of the founders of the Newlyn School of Painters. On his return to England he settled in Sussex, painting farm labourers in idyllic, rustic surroundings, recording a way of English rural life that was fast being lost to increasing industrialisation.
Viewing
Sunday 10 July 11am-4pm, Monday 11 July to Friday 15 July 10am-4pm and morning of sale from 8am. Viewing is open to the public, there is no need to make an appointment.
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