EUGÈNE-FRANÇOIS-MARIE-JOSEPH DEVÉRIA | PORTRAIT OF LAURENCE DAVIDSON AND HIS THREE SONS

Laurence Davidson, Edinburgh

Dundas & Wilson, C.S., Edinburgh (given by the above and sold, Sotheby's, London, July 15, 1992, lot 51, illustrated)

Private Collection (and sold, Sotheby's, London, December 5, 2013, lot 216, illustrated)

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner 

Edinburgh Evening Courant, Edinburgh, March 1, 1851, p. 2

The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibitions 1826-1990, Calne, Wiltshire, 1991, vol. I, p. 407

Guillaume Ambroise, "Eugène Devéria, une portraitiste méconnu," Eugène Devéria: 1805-1865, exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pau, 2006, pp. 71, 92-93, illustrated p. 80

Portrait of Laurence Davidson and His Three Sons is one of the most important large-scale paintings of Eugène Devéria’s Scottish period. In the present lot, Davidson is pictured with his three sons. One carries a fishing pole while another holds a cricket bat, illustrating that Davidson’s sons were as passionate about outdoor pursuits as their father, who was a member of the Royal Company of Archers. Davidson was the youngest son of the solicitor Harry Davidson, who had a practice at 1 North Charlotte Street in Edinburgh. In 1825, Laurence became a Writer to the Signet, an ancient society of solicitors, and joined his father and brother James in law partnership. In 1830, the firm was joined by Thomas Syme and was renamed Davidsons & Syme. The firm represented the Bank of Scotland, the Union Canal Company, and many notable and aristocratic Scottish families. In 1972, Davidsons & Syme merged with Dundas & Wilson, which owned this work until it was auctioned at Sotheby's London in 1992. 

Born in Paris, Eugène Devéria studied under Anne-Louis Girodet and made his debut at the Paris Salon des Artistes Français in 1824, where he became well-known as a history painter. Along with his brother Achille, a printmaker, he hosted gatherings at his family home for some of the most important Romantics, including Alexandre Dumas, Eugène Delacroix, and Victor Hugo. Devéria traveled in Scotland in 1849 to visit an uncle living in Edinburgh. He was well-liked in Protestant Scotland (he converted from Catholicism in the early 1840s) and his work became of interest to the Duke of Hamilton, a francophile. In the Hamilton family’s residence near Glasgow, Devéria became enamored with Scottish paintings. He moved to Edinburgh in 1850, the year he painted this portrait, and began submitting works to the Royal Scottish Academy. Though Devéria returned to France in 1851, he continued to visit Scotland until 1856.

We would like to thank Olivia Voisin for confirming the authenticity of this lot, which will be included in her forthcoming Eugène Devéria catalogue raisonné.