Lot 5
  • 5

George Elgar Hicks, R.B.A.

Estimate
80,000 - 120,000 GBP
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Description

  • George Elgar Hicks, R.B.A.
  • the general post office, one Minute Before Six
  • signed and dated l.r.: G. E. Hicks/ 1860; further signed and dated on the reverse: G. E. Hicks/ 1860
  • oil on panel
  • 37 by 56cm.; 14½ by 22in.

Provenance

Commissioned from the artist by Vokins;
Mrs E. Cochrane, by whom sold Sotheby's, Belgravia, 22 February 1972, lot 50;
Richard Green, London;
Sotheby's, Belgravia, 9 July 1974, lot 70;
Private collection

Exhibited

Hilton Hotel, Tehran, Exhibition of Paintings from the Fourteenth - Nineteenth Century, May 1975, no.445;
Geffrye Museum, London and Southampton Art Gallery, George Elgar Hicks, Painter of Victorian Life, 1983, no.22a

Condition

The following condition report has been prepared by Hamish Dewar Ltd., 13 and 14 Mason's Yard, Duke Street, St James', London, SW1Y 6BU: UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Support The artist's panel is providing an even and secure structural support with no evidence of any structural intervention in the past. Paint Surface The paint surface has a rather uneven varnish layer and inspection under ultra-violet light shows the varnish layers to have discoloured, confirming that cleaning would be beneficial. A number of small, scattered retouchings are also visible under ultra-violet light and the great majority of these are lines highlighting the contours, and in particular the contours of those figures wearing black coats or hats. I would be very confident that the great majority of these would be found to be largely or even entirely unnecessary should they be removed during the cleaning process. The most significant of these retouchings are: 1) on the black coat of the man on the right of the composition, 2) on the cape of the woman in the centre of the composition and on the boy to her left, and other scattered retouchings. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition and should respond very well to cleaning and more careful retouching, which should also significantly reduce the amount of retouching. FRAME Held in a gilt plaster frame with a canvas inset. Please telephone the department on 0207 293 5718 if you have any questions about the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

'In everyday life there is an inexhaustible fund of paintable incident; but simply because it is of the threadbare drama of our workday cares, it is more difficult to paint than less immediate matter. We have never been at the Post-Office one minute before six, but we take the artist's work for it, that what we see in this dissertation is based upon truth. The episodes may not all have been of simultaneous occurrence; but yet each may, at some time, have had its event at St. Martin's-le-Grand. The picture describes the rush to save the post; newspapers by sackfuls are thrown in at the window, and, singly, they are thrown in by those who reasonably despair of reaching the box. Women and children, with letters in their hands, look imploringly for aid in their trying difficulty, the field being entirely possessed by the interests of the press. There are some characteristic figures in the foreground, who congratulate themselves that they have sped their missives, and so creditably acquitted themselves. This artist has already produced a picture from material somewhat similar, but this work is in everything superior to it.' (Art Journal, 1860, p.170)

The present picture is a reduced version of Hick's Royal Academy exhibit of 1860 (sold in these rooms from the collection of the British Rail Pension Fund, 19 June 1990, lot 31), apparently worked on simultaneously with the painting of the larger version. It shows the rush to catch the last post at St. Martin's-le-Grand post office built by Smirke in 1812 but now demolished. The chaotic scene, which became a mid-Victorian tourist attraction, was described by Charles Dickens and W. H. Wills in Household Words, 30 March 1850: 'A fountain of newspapers played in at the window. Waterspouts of newspapers broke from enormous sacks and engulfed the men inside...The Post Office was so full already that the window foamed at the mouth with newspapers...All the boys of London seemed to have gone mad and to be besieging the Post Office with papers. Now and then there was a girl; now and then a woman; now and then a weak old man; but as the minute hand crept near to the six such a torrent of boys and such a torrent of newspapers came tumbling in together pell-mell, heads on heals, one didn't post themselves nightly along with the newspapers and get delivered all over the world. Suddenly it struck six. Shut, Sesame!'

When exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1860 The General Post Office proved to be one of the most popular pictures in the exhibition, drawing vast crowds. According to Punch '...the crush represented in Mr Hicks's picture gives only a faint idea of the crowd around it. The glimpses which you catch of it, between hats, over shoulders, and under arms, increase the reality of the scene!'