11th Dec, 2024 12:00
Fine Paintings & Works on Paper
9
FRENCH SCHOOL (17TH CENTURY)
THE FINDING OF MOSES
oil on canvas
95.6 x 138cm; 38 x 54 1/2in
126 x 157cm; 49 1/2 x 61 3/4in (framed)
Property of a Gentleman, London
Provenance
Frederick Willis Farrer, London (d.1909; Farrer worked for the family legal firm, Farrer & Co. in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and was the son-in-law of the painter George Richmond)
Sale, Christie's London, 23 June 1916, lot 108
Sale, Phillips London, 28 April 1987, lot 65 (as Circle of Gaspard Poussin, called Gaspard Dughet).
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
Exhibited
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Egyptomania: Egypt in Western Art, 1730-1930, 1994, p. 33, fig. 2 (as by Charles-Alphonse Dufresnoy; illustrated in the catalogue)
The present work has been the subject of much scholarly debate. When first recorded at auction in 1916 it was considered to be by Claude Lorrain (1600-1682), when offered for sale in 1987 it was attributed to Circle of Gaspard Poussin, called Gaspard Dughet (1615-1675). Since 1987 a range of attributions have been proffered, mostly to French hands of the seventeenth century. In 1994, when it was a feature of the Egyptomania exhibition in Ottawa it was catalogued as by Charles-Alphonse Dufresnoy (1611-1668), an attribution put forward by Pierre Rosenberg; another suggestion is that it could be by Francisque Millet III (1697-1777). More recently the name of Dutch painter Johannes Glauber (1656-c.1703) has been proposed.
Iconographically the figures in the composition bear striking similarities to the work of Francisque Millet I (1642-79). The woman kneeling with arms outstretched to the left of the baby Moses compares with the corresponding figure in the etching by Theodore after the painting by Millet I (Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin). The female figure standing behind Moses who gestures towards the child also adopts the pose of the woman standing almost in the river in Theodore's etching.
Concerning references to the Antique, the obelisk on the left of the composition derives from the the obelisk in front of the church of St John Lateran, Rome - one of the nineteen obelisks brought back from Egypt by Emperor Hadrian. Its ornamentation shows the cartouches of King Tuthmosis III of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The inscriptions in the roundel are taken, in part at least, from the obelisk in the Piazza del Popolo, Rome. The two statues are the Antinous now in the Museo Gregorio in the Vatican. The pyramid shown on the right is the tomb of Caius Cestius, which stands in what is now the English cemetery in Rome. The brass trumpet-like object on the ground is the rattle of Osiris, the Egyptian mother-god. The winged creatures in the sky appear to reference the flying serpents sent by God on the grumbling Israelites and the ibis Moses used to put down the birds.
Sold for £9,000
THE FINDING OF MOSES
oil on canvas
95.6 x 138cm; 38 x 54 1/2in
126 x 157cm; 49 1/2 x 61 3/4in (framed)
Property of a Gentleman, London
Provenance
Frederick Willis Farrer, London (d.1909; Farrer worked for the family legal firm, Farrer & Co. in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and was the son-in-law of the painter George Richmond)
Sale, Christie's London, 23 June 1916, lot 108
Sale, Phillips London, 28 April 1987, lot 65 (as Circle of Gaspard Poussin, called Gaspard Dughet).
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
Exhibited
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Egyptomania: Egypt in Western Art, 1730-1930, 1994, p. 33, fig. 2 (as by Charles-Alphonse Dufresnoy; illustrated in the catalogue)
The present work has been the subject of much scholarly debate. When first recorded at auction in 1916 it was considered to be by Claude Lorrain (1600-1682), when offered for sale in 1987 it was attributed to Circle of Gaspard Poussin, called Gaspard Dughet (1615-1675). Since 1987 a range of attributions have been proffered, mostly to French hands of the seventeenth century. In 1994, when it was a feature of the Egyptomania exhibition in Ottawa it was catalogued as by Charles-Alphonse Dufresnoy (1611-1668), an attribution put forward by Pierre Rosenberg; another suggestion is that it could be by Francisque Millet III (1697-1777). More recently the name of Dutch painter Johannes Glauber (1656-c.1703) has been proposed.
Iconographically the figures in the composition bear striking similarities to the work of Francisque Millet I (1642-79). The woman kneeling with arms outstretched to the left of the baby Moses compares with the corresponding figure in the etching by Theodore after the painting by Millet I (Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin). The female figure standing behind Moses who gestures towards the child also adopts the pose of the woman standing almost in the river in Theodore's etching.
Concerning references to the Antique, the obelisk on the left of the composition derives from the the obelisk in front of the church of St John Lateran, Rome - one of the nineteen obelisks brought back from Egypt by Emperor Hadrian. Its ornamentation shows the cartouches of King Tuthmosis III of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The inscriptions in the roundel are taken, in part at least, from the obelisk in the Piazza del Popolo, Rome. The two statues are the Antinous now in the Museo Gregorio in the Vatican. The pyramid shown on the right is the tomb of Caius Cestius, which stands in what is now the English cemetery in Rome. The brass trumpet-like object on the ground is the rattle of Osiris, the Egyptian mother-god. The winged creatures in the sky appear to reference the flying serpents sent by God on the grumbling Israelites and the ibis Moses used to put down the birds.
Auction: Fine Paintings & Works on Paper, 11th Dec, 2024
Auction Location: London, UK
Our sale of Fine Paintings and Works on Paper features 80 lots spanning four centuries. It includes works from two significant deceased estates: art dealer Alexander Iolas who promoted the bright and playful works by Jean Hugo and Niki de Sainte Phalle (lots 44-52), and gallerist Karsten Schubert, led by a green revolver on a vibrant red background by Michael Craig-Martin (lot 53), currently the subject of a retrospective at the Royal Academy, Piccadilly.
Colour dominates many of the post-War works. A stripe painting by the leading Washington Colour Field artist Gene Davis is a sale highlight. Davis worked alongside Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland also from D.C. in the 1950s and ‘60s perfecting his distinctive style. 65-6 by Davis (lot 58) dances and rhymes before the viewer’s eye. From the same collection and similarly optical are the works by Joe Tilson (lot 60) from 1965, and a rare painting by Justin Knowles (lot 59). Fellow colourist Howard Hodgkin is represented by Here we are in Croydon from 1979 (lot 63).
Modern British is led by an attractive group of watercolours by John Nash (lots 34-37), all acquired from the artist by the present owner’s grandfather. Other British figurative painters featured in the sale include Alan Lowdnes with a street scene in Altrincham near Manchester (lot 40), and three sketches by the young Michael Andrews (lots 41-43). Elsewhere there are works by John Piper and humorous illustrations by graphic artists Ronald Searle and Quentin Blake (lots 71 & 72).
Artists from further afield include two 18th/ 19th century Cuzco paintings from Peru and good Australian examples: a watercolour by John Russell of the Pont de Neuilly, and an atmospheric painting of a dust storm in the New South Wales out back by John Charles Goodhart of 1907 capturing a storm that year (lots 31 & 38). ‘en plein-air’-ists in the sale include Otto Modersohn, co-founder of Worpswede school in Bavaria in the 1890s (lot 19) and three delightful paintings of children by Scottish painter Gemmel Hutchison, influenced by Barbizon in France and the Hague School in Holland (lots 27, 28 & 30).
For more information please contact us | pictures@olympiaauctions.com | +44 (0)20 7806 5541
Viewing
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 8th December: 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Monday 9th December: 10:00am to 8:00pm
Tuesday 10th December: 10:00am to 5:00pm
