Lot 33
  • 33

John Atkinson Grimshaw

Estimate
150,000 - 200,000 GBP
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Description

  • John Atkinson Grimshaw
  • A Reverie, In the Artist's House
  • signed and dated l.r.: Atkinson Grimshaw/ 1878 May; further titled and signed on the stretcher; A Reverie/ Atkinson Grimshaw
  • oil on canvas
  • 83 by 128cm., 32¾ by 48¼in.

Provenance

Sotheby's, New York, 7 May 1998, lot 205

Condition

The canvas has not been lined. There is a small undulation to the canvas to the upper left edge (easily rectifiable). There is very fine craquelure. Otherwise clean and ready to hang. UV light inspection reveals an opaque and uneven layer of surface varnish and it appears that a restorer has strengthened many of the picture's details and edges and in-filled craquelure. Held in a highly decorative aesthetic style gilded frame.
"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

Although best-known for his moonlit nocturnes and golden dawns, Grimshaw was a painter of greater variety than he is often credited with. He also depicted scenes from classical mythology and medieval romance, exquisite still-life studies, portraits and Pre-Raphaelite diurnal scenes of the bucolic English countryside. In the 1870s he painted a remarkable series of interiors at his beautiful home on the Temple Newsam estate, Knostrop Hall. This small group of intensely detailed and gorgeously coloured pictures offer not only another representation of his talents but also capture the epitome of fashionable taste in the mid-nineteenth century. The exotic oriental ceramics, lacquerware, woodcut prints, fans and embroidered fabrics were contrasted with English oak furniture, Old Master paintings and women dressed in lace and silk dresses of the Aesthetic style championed by retailers such as Liberty & Co. The Aesthetic style had been inspired by the dawn of the Meiji period when, after centuries of self-imposed isolation, Japan sought to strengthen its links with the West by exporting its art. Grimshaw’s interiors from the 1870s were painted slightly later than those by Rossetti, Whistler and Albert Moore inspired by Oriental art, but they are equally heart-felt and important records of this modern fashion. As Edwina Ehrman has noted; ‘In the 1870s the artist’s house was not just an expression of material success. It was also seen as a measure of the owner’s aesthetic sensibility and artistic credentials. ‘ (Atkinson Grimshaw Painter of Moonlight, 2012, p.99) 

In the Artist’s House was painted in 1878 in a colour-scheme of jade, rose, gold and kingfisher-blue emphasised by the dark flooring and wall panelling, which echoes the hues of the kimono draped casually over the sofa and embroidered with scenes of Japanese women. It was painted when Grimshaw was also working upon Dulce Domum (Collection of Lord Lloyd Webber) begun in 1876 and completed in 1885. In both paintings he probably painted his wife Frances Theodosia Grimshaw (known as Fanny) wearing a beautiful silk gown with a pleated front. This interest in depicting contemporary female fashion was the result of the influence of the paintings of the French artist James Tissot who Grimshaw almost certainly did not know personally but whose work he had clearly seen in various exhibitions and printed reproductions.