Georgios Jakobides

Galerie Wimmer & Co., Munich
Chester Thorne, Thornwood Castle, Tacoma, WA (by circa 1910; Chester Thorne was a co-founder of the Port of Tacoma in Washington State. He commissioned Thornewood Castle, a Tudor Gothic mansion built around an Elizabethan manor house which he had dismantled and shipped, brick by brick, from England. Architect, Kirtland Kelsey Cutter was in charge of the project, which took three years to build, from 1908-11); thence by descent to the late owner

Probably, Berlin, Academy of Arts, LVII Ausstellung der königlichen Akademie der Künste, 1884, no. 312, (as Der Unersättliche)

Kunstchronik, Leipzig, 27 November 1884, p. 126, cited
Kunstchronik, Leipzig, 11 February 1886, p. 317 (engraving by Doris Raab cited)
Deutsche illustrierte Zeitung, 1886, illustrated
Moderne Kunst in Meisterholzschnitten nach Gemälden berühmter Meister der Gegenwart, Berlin, 1887, p. 10, fig. 66
Friedrich von Boetticher, Malerwerke des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, Dresden, 1974, p. 636, no. 8
Olga Mentzafou-Polyzou, Jakobides, Athens, 1999, p. 339, no. 69, catalogued

The following condition report has been prepared by Hamish Dewar Ltd., 13 and 14 Mason's Yard, St James', London, SW1Y 6BU: UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The canvas is unlined and is securely attached to what certainly appears to be the artist's original keyed wooden stretcher. This is ensuring a stable structural support. The central vertical stretcher member is slightly bowed. Paint Surface The paint surface has a relatively even varnish layer. There is a very small paint loss within the dark pigments towards the upper left corner of the composition and a minor abrasion on the left part of the upper edge. The paint surface has an overall pattern of slightly raised craquelure. This appears stable. There are scattered networks of lines of drying craquelure within the dark pigments towards the left edge, and above the left part of the lower edge including corresponding to the lower horizontal stretcher member. There are also small networks of very fine lines of craquelure within the dark pigments of figure's heads and clothing. These all appear stable. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows a discoloured and opaque varnish layer which prevents the ultra-violet light from fully penetrating. Inspection under ultra-violet light does not appear to show any retouching. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in good and stable condition.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This newly rediscovered work of 1883-1884 is a major composition by Jakobides. Known only from a black and white engraving, most likely it is the painting exhibited at the Berlin Royal Academy of Arts in 1884, as Der Unersättliche (The Ravenous One). That same year, it was published as the engraving by Doris Raab (fig. 1).

Jakobides appealed to nineteenth-century audiences with his illustrations of the triumphs and scrapes associated with childhood. Known for his heartfelt and wry depictions of the relations between children and adults, in the present work, a grandfather lovingly supports a curious toddler playing with his older sister.

Jakobides' observations of everyday life were strongly influenced by the work of the Dutch Golden Age artist Frans Hals, reflected in the intimate yet comical subject matter as well as the sensitivity conveyed through the focused light and in each soft-edged brushstroke. This debt to naturalism and the genre scene were also due to Jakobides' introduction to the work of members of the French Realists and the Barbizon School including Courbet and Corot, to which he would have been exposed during his time at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. An atmosphere of warmth pervades the scene, assisted by the light slanting through the window and bathing the scene in a gentle glow. 

Jakobides' training in Munich is evident in the clarity of the light that illuminates the edges and outlines, in contrast to the fluid and solvent quality seen in French Impressionism at the time. The neutral-toned background emphasises the prominent central figures, lovingly and meticulously rendered in far richer tones and values.  Each pictorial element of the interior scene is carefully chosen and meticulously painted to express the idyllic tranquillity of domestic family life. The coarse uneven walls and the rough-hewn wooden table describe the family's simple existence - a metaphor for the strong moral values of the working class.