- 19
WALTER RICHARD SICKERT, A.R.A. | Santa Maria Formosa
Estimate
80,000 - 120,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
- Walter Richard Sickert
- Santa Maria Formosa
- signed
- oil on canvas
- 48 by 56cm.; 19 by 22in.
- Executed circa 1900-1.
Provenance
André Gide, by 1903
Leicester Galleries, London, 1952
R. Hart
Harold Esselmont, Aberdeen
Thos. Agnew & Sons, London, 1968
Mrs Busi
Agnew's, London, 1991
Private Collection
Agnew's, London, 1998
Offer Waterman, London, 2006, where acquired by the present owner
Leicester Galleries, London, 1952
R. Hart
Harold Esselmont, Aberdeen
Thos. Agnew & Sons, London, 1968
Mrs Busi
Agnew's, London, 1991
Private Collection
Agnew's, London, 1998
Offer Waterman, London, 2006, where acquired by the present owner
Exhibited
Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Societé Nouvelles des Peintres et Sculpteurs, February 1903, cat. no.135 (lent by André Gide);
Paris, Bernheim, Exposition Sickert, 10th - 19th January 1907, cat. no.9 (possibly);
Paris, Galerie Cardo, Walter R. Sickert, 15th November - 6th December 1930, cat. no.58 (lent by André Gide);
London, Thomas Agnew & Sons, Sickert. Centenary Loan Exhibition of 111 Pictures from Private Collections, 14th March - 14th April 1960, cat. no.22 (lent by Harold Esselmont);
London, Arthur Tooth & Sons, British Painting 1900-1950, November 1967, cat. no.19;
Folkestone, Folkestone Arts Centre, Sickert. Paintings/ Drawings/ Etchings from Public & Private Collections, 4th - 26th March 1972, cat. no.76, (lent by Mrs Busi).
Paris, Bernheim, Exposition Sickert, 10th - 19th January 1907, cat. no.9 (possibly);
Paris, Galerie Cardo, Walter R. Sickert, 15th November - 6th December 1930, cat. no.58 (lent by André Gide);
London, Thomas Agnew & Sons, Sickert. Centenary Loan Exhibition of 111 Pictures from Private Collections, 14th March - 14th April 1960, cat. no.22 (lent by Harold Esselmont);
London, Arthur Tooth & Sons, British Painting 1900-1950, November 1967, cat. no.19;
Folkestone, Folkestone Arts Centre, Sickert. Paintings/ Drawings/ Etchings from Public & Private Collections, 4th - 26th March 1972, cat. no.76, (lent by Mrs Busi).
Literature
Lillian Browse, Sickert, Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1960, p.69;
Wendy Baron, Sickert, Phaidon, London, 1973, cat. no.131, illustrated fig.91;
Wendy Baron and Richard Shone, Sickert Paintings, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1992, p.120, illustrated fig.102;
Wendy Baron, Sickert Paintings and Drawings, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2006, cat. no.161, illustrated p.262.
Wendy Baron, Sickert, Phaidon, London, 1973, cat. no.131, illustrated fig.91;
Wendy Baron and Richard Shone, Sickert Paintings, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1992, p.120, illustrated fig.102;
Wendy Baron, Sickert Paintings and Drawings, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2006, cat. no.161, illustrated p.262.
Condition
The canvas appears original. The canvas undulates slightly in places. There is a horizontal restored tear to the canvas towards the upper edge, just at the upper left corner of the building, which has been very sensitively executed. There is a faint stretcher bar mark towards the upper left corner. There are fine lines of craquelure to the work, only visible upon close inspection. There is one possible flattened impasto tip to the left hand figure. There is light surface dust and a layer of varnish. This excepting, the work appears in very good overall condition. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals fluorescence and probable retouching to the upper left and upper right quadrants and to the edges, particularly along the upper, upper left and right edges, with a small number of further more minor scattered instances. The work is held behind glass in a gilt painted composite frame. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 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."
"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
'Venice – "The loveliest City in the World”’(Walter Richard Sickert, A.R.A., ‘The New Life of Whistler’, Fortnightly Review, December 1908) We are grateful to Wendy Baron for her kind assistance with the cataloguing of the present work.
Sickert is most often identified with London, whether it be his music-hall paintings of the 1880s or his Camden Town interiors of the early 1900s, but for almost a decade from 1895 to 1904, Venice was the city which was to form the dominant theme in his painting. It was here that Sickert, through his continued experimentation into innovative modes of expression, came to be known as one of the most important British artists at the turn of the century.
Sickert would have first come across Venice as a studio assistant to Whistler when he helped him with his series of Venetian etchings. Unlike Whistler who had concentrated on narrow walkways and backwaters, in his early visits to the city, Sickert’s focus was on the impressive architecture of Venice’s grand buildings particularly centered around St Mark’s Square which he found ‘engrossing’ (Sickert in a letter to Wilson Steer, 1895), as well as the Rialto and Santa Maria della Salute, at the opening of the Grand Canal. The exceptionally impressive architecture coupled with the distinctive effect of the soft, Italian light across the rippling waterways had long provided artists with source material and this was no different for Sickert. In 1896 he took a studio at 940 Calle dei Frati, and following the breakdown of his marriage, he threw himself into his work, fascinated by the juxtaposition of the grandiose facades with the quiet, calm warren of passages and waterways that lay behind, which particularly appealed to his eye for the shabby ordinariness of the everyday life.
The present work depicts the Santa Maria Formosa, which is located in the heart of Venice, just behind the Basilica of St Mark's, and was built in 1492 on the site of a former church that dated to the 7th century. Sickert emphasises the bold, ornate architecture, choosing a low vantage point, which highlights its monumentality. Typical of many of Sickert’s Venetian landscapes, the building is shown off centre, cropping in on the top of the basilica and the right-hand side of the structure. He focuses particularly on the dramatic effects of light, with the shadow of the building drawing a diagonal across the square.
Sickert’s Venetian landscapes were amongst his most sought-after works in the early part of the 20th Century, and were especially popular with his French audience, sold through dealers Bernheim Jeune in Paris. Of the 96 works included in his June 1904 showing at the gallery, 32 were Venetian subjects, with a buying public no doubt drawn to the fresh, Impressionistic handling of the paint of the waterways. The present work was exhibited firstly at Durand-Ruel, Paris in 1903, and possibly at Bernheim Jeune in 1907.
Sickert is most often identified with London, whether it be his music-hall paintings of the 1880s or his Camden Town interiors of the early 1900s, but for almost a decade from 1895 to 1904, Venice was the city which was to form the dominant theme in his painting. It was here that Sickert, through his continued experimentation into innovative modes of expression, came to be known as one of the most important British artists at the turn of the century.
Sickert would have first come across Venice as a studio assistant to Whistler when he helped him with his series of Venetian etchings. Unlike Whistler who had concentrated on narrow walkways and backwaters, in his early visits to the city, Sickert’s focus was on the impressive architecture of Venice’s grand buildings particularly centered around St Mark’s Square which he found ‘engrossing’ (Sickert in a letter to Wilson Steer, 1895), as well as the Rialto and Santa Maria della Salute, at the opening of the Grand Canal. The exceptionally impressive architecture coupled with the distinctive effect of the soft, Italian light across the rippling waterways had long provided artists with source material and this was no different for Sickert. In 1896 he took a studio at 940 Calle dei Frati, and following the breakdown of his marriage, he threw himself into his work, fascinated by the juxtaposition of the grandiose facades with the quiet, calm warren of passages and waterways that lay behind, which particularly appealed to his eye for the shabby ordinariness of the everyday life.
The present work depicts the Santa Maria Formosa, which is located in the heart of Venice, just behind the Basilica of St Mark's, and was built in 1492 on the site of a former church that dated to the 7th century. Sickert emphasises the bold, ornate architecture, choosing a low vantage point, which highlights its monumentality. Typical of many of Sickert’s Venetian landscapes, the building is shown off centre, cropping in on the top of the basilica and the right-hand side of the structure. He focuses particularly on the dramatic effects of light, with the shadow of the building drawing a diagonal across the square.
Sickert’s Venetian landscapes were amongst his most sought-after works in the early part of the 20th Century, and were especially popular with his French audience, sold through dealers Bernheim Jeune in Paris. Of the 96 works included in his June 1904 showing at the gallery, 32 were Venetian subjects, with a buying public no doubt drawn to the fresh, Impressionistic handling of the paint of the waterways. The present work was exhibited firstly at Durand-Ruel, Paris in 1903, and possibly at Bernheim Jeune in 1907.