Sir David Wilkie, R.A.

Bought by Henry Phipps Baron Mulgrave and later Earl of Mulgrave (1755-1831) directly from the artist;
his executor's sale, London, Christie's, 12 May 1832, lot 65 (bt. Seguier for Henry 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne);
thence by descent

 

London, Pall Mall, Wilkie's Private Exhibition, 1812, no. 15;
London, Royal Academy, 1884, no. 37 (Lent by the Marquess of Lansdowne);
London, Grosvenor Gallery, 1888, no. 323;
Edinburgh, Loan Exhibition, 1901, no. 39;
London, Whitechapel, Scottish Exhibition, 1911, no. 28;
London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of British Art, 1934, no. 417;
London, Royal Academy, Scottish Art, 1939, no. 150;
Edinburgh, The National Gallery of Scotland, Ramsay, Raeburn & Wilkie, 1951, no. 26

A. Cunningham, The Life of Sir David Wilkie, London, 1843, vol. II, pp. 277 ff.;
A.B. Jameson, Companion to the most celebrated private galleries of art in London, 1844, no. 181;
G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, London, 1854, vol III, pp. 162-163 (listed as being in the Cabinet at Bowood);
G.E. Ambrose, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures belonging to The Marquess of Lansdowne, K. G. at Lansdowne House, London and Bowood, Wilts., 1897, no. 138, p. 129;
R.S. Gower, Wilkie, 1902, p. 120;
J.L. Caw, Scottish Painting, 1908 (frontispiece)
H.A.D. Miles and D.B. Brown, Sir David Wilkie of Scotland (1785-1841), Raleigh North Carolina, 1987, p. 148 (under The Village Festival);
N. Tromans, David Wilkie: Painter of Everyday Life, Dulwich London, 2002, pp. 18-19
N. Tromans, David Wilkie: The People's Painter, Edinburgh, 2007, pp. 88-89, 120

STRUCTURE On a single flat panel with three additional mounts running along the top, left and right hand sides, all inscribed with measurements PAINT SURFACE The painting appears to be in good condition with no apparent damage except for a very minor paint loss to the child's forehead and skirt and to the panel edge. Otherwise there are two very minor surface abrasions in the upper centre and by the man's raised foot. ULTRAVIOLET Examination under ultraviolet light reveals a thick uneven milky varnish overall and evidence of very minor retouching to the surface abrasions mentioned above. FRAME Held in a gilt plaster and wood frame. To speak to a specialist about this lot please contact Julian Gascoigne on +44 (0)207 293 5482, or at julian.gascoigne@sothebys.com, or Ludo Shaw Stewart on +44 (0)207 293 5816, or at ludovic.shawstewart@sothebys.com.
"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."

ENGRAVED
by E. Finden, 1830 (as 'Theft of the Cap');
by W. Greatbach.

This significant work is the first version of the now lost painting of 1810 entitled The Wardrobe Ransacked. Intended as a pictorial prelude to The Village Holiday (1809-11), the subject closely relates to the latter's principle grouping, showing an inebriated man being tugged in different directions. The Wardrobe Ransacked was submitted to the Royal Academy in 1810 but withdrawn upon the advice of Sir George Beaumont and the President Benjamin West, ostensibly on the grounds that it would not stand up against Country Choristers by Edward Bird, a genre painter billed as the next Wilkie. However the more likely reason was that it was considered to be in bad taste given that it deals with the themes of transvestism and more generally parental drunken irresponsibility. The uncharacteristically dynamic centrifugal arrangement, based on the model of the Flemish kermesse, draws in pose, upon Rubens's Drunken Silenus (1617) and the principle figures in Teniers's Ale-house, as engraved by Le Bas in 1771, and testifies to the fact that Wilkie was for the first time in his career probing the Netherlandish pictorial idiom as a source of humour and drama. Such a seemingly unprecedented stylistic evolution was cause for consternation to the conservative establishment, flying in the face of Beaumont's recent advice to avoid 'refinement' or 'twisted figures'. Following encouragement from Seguier, Wilkie re-submitted the picture to the Royal Academy in 1811 under the deliberately anodyne title, A Humourous Scene, appeasing his critics by stressing the comedy for the sake of propriety. With wonderful irony, the picture that had only a year earlier been considered in bad taste by senior academicians became an instant hit with the public. The present picture was exhibited alongside the final version at his private exhibition of 1812, its great popularity with fashionable young women became so notorious that the image was used in a cosmetic advertising campaign for Hubert Roseate Powder. This image and not the definitive picture was engraved by Finden, and by Greatbach.

We are grateful to Professor Hamish Miles for his assistance in cataloguing this lot