Joseph Nash

signed and dated J. Nash 1872 lower right; inscribed no 1 Brown Gallery on mat board

Sotheby's London, May 26, 1983, lot 377, illustrated

Paper is laid down to board in several spots along edges and possibly in center of composition, paper is light struck with faint mat stains visible along edges. Work is attached to mat board with archival corners.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Joseph Nash's renderings of interiors of the stately homes of England were well-known in the 19th Century through the publication of The Mansions of England in the Olden Times. These four volumes, produced between 1839 and 1849, featured illustrations of these painted interiors and contributed to the rise in fashion of the Tudor and Elizabethan decorative styles. In his introduction in volume I, editor J. Corbet Anderson confirms:

"The merit of Mr. Nash's well-known work is generally acknowledged. In representing by a series of views, the ancient "stately homes of England," the artist's object was not to exhibit these as many of them now appear – gloomy, desolate, and neglected; but glowing with the genial warmth of their fire-sides, and enlivened with the presence of their inmates and guests, enjoying the recreations and pastimes, or celebrating the festivals of our ancestors. By keeping this aim steadily in view, the learned artist succeeded in giving top the public, through the medium of his great work, not only the domestic architecture of the Mansions of England in the olden time, but the costumes and habits of "merrie England."" (J. Corbet Anderson, editor Mansions of England in the Olden Times, 1839, p. 1)