Charles Spencelayh

Christie's, 26 September 2007, lot 46

 

STRUCTURE This picture is in excellent original condition with rich colouring throughout. There are no signs of craquelure and the panel is sound. The picture is ready to hang. UNDER ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT There appears to be no signs of retouching. FRAME Held in a moulded gilt rame in excellent condition. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5718 if you have any questions regarding 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."

'Much of Spencelayh's work now appears to me to possess a nostalgic quality about it. The agreeable clutter of inherited possessions, common enough in most households early this century, and even between the wars, is becoming more and more of a memory as people find themselves crammed into flats and pressured into the purchase of modern purpose-built furniture.' (Aubrey Noakes, Charles Spencelayh and his Paintings, 1978, p. 32)

Charles Spencelayh's endearing images of aged men, in humble interiors and involved in domestic every-day activities, remain eternally popular for their sensitive and humorous depiction of genteel maturity. His rendering of bric-a-brac details and typically English interiors make his pictures immediately accessible. Spencelayh was 'a simple, uncomplicated man, happy in his work, and supremely fortunate in that after his happy childhood he married in succession, two kind, loving women who devoted their lives to seeing him happy and ensuring that nothing worried or distracted him from the main business of his life: painting, drawing, painting, drawing.' (Ibid, p.. 46) It was in 1892 that he exhibited his first pictures at the Royal Academy, portrait miniatures of women which were followed in the next few years by similar pictures. He exhibited miniatures from various addresses in Chatham and New Brompton until 1912 when the Spencelayhs moved to Lee in Kent, near Blackheath and Greenwich where he painted the present picture. He had by this time begun to paint the old men in parlours and workshops for which he became famous.

In the early 1920s Spencelayh was ''discovered' by one of those fairy-tale providers who most of us thought had vanished with the wigs and brocade coats of the eighteenth century' (ibid, p.60). His name was Mr. Levy, a Manchester cotton merchant who had bought a painting by Spencelayh entitled Cinderella when on holiday in Harrogate. He and his wife had seen other pictures by Spencelayh at the Royal Academy but was disappointed to learn that they had already been sold. The attendant that worked on the door at the Royal Academy exhibition told Levy that he had Spencelayh's address and thus the artist and his patron became acquainted. Levy immediately bought two pictures from Spencelayh and, in the words of Mrs Levy; 'for a while he kept buying them. Then, he had a brain-wave, he wrote and asked Mr. Spencelayh if he could come and see him in Manchester. He offered him a house rent-free, for Mrs. Spencelayh and himself, and offered to double the sum of money Mr. Spencelayh was then making.' (ibid, p.60) Levy enjoyed watching Spencelayh work and suggested several Jewish subjects for him to paint, which sold very well. He also commissioned portraits of members of his family and arranged for twenty-three of his paintings to be exhibited at the Midland Hotel in Manchester. However it was his purchase of several important paintings by Spencelayh for sums as high as £600 and £700 that was most valuable to the artist. Among Levy's pictures were Old Coins depicting a numismatist inspecting his collection, Render unto Caesar depicting an old man with his income-tax return and The Empty Chair.

This delightful picture depicts a typically characteristic Spencelayh 'old timer' cautiously testing a tonic that will accompany his lunch of roasted pork and pickled onions; the clock shows that it is a few minutes after a quarter past one. The painting on the wall behind the figure is a copy of High Life by Edwin Landseer (Tate) a gentle joke about the impoverished life of the gentleman.