Albert Joseph Moore, A.R.W.S.

Probably bought from the Grosvenor Gallery exhibition in 1888 by Sir Horace Davey;
Sold by Davey's executors, Christie's, 20 April 1907, lot 78, bought by Agnew's for 260 gns.;
Mrs Charlotte Frank, from whom bought by Sir David Piper before 1972;
Isabel Goldsmith-Patino;
Christie's, 7 June 2007, lot 22;
Private collection

London, Grosvenor Gallery, 1888, no.110;
London, St. Jude's in Whitechapel, 1889, no.159;
London, Grafton Galleries, Exhibition of Pictures by the Late Mr Albert Moore, 1894, no.187 (lent by Lord Davey);
London, West Ham Public Hall, Free Picture Exhibition, 1898;
Turin, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Il sacro e il profano nell'arte dei simbolisti, 1969, no.48;
Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, The Sacred and Profane in Symbolist Art, 1969, no.39;
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Laing Art Gallery, Albert Moore and his Contemporaries, 1972, no.71

Athenaeum, 19 May 1888, p.638;
'The Grafton Gallery Collection', Art Journal, 1894, p.89;
Alfred Lys Baldry, Albert Moore: His Life and Works, 1894, pp.20, 62, 63, 82, 105, illustrated facing p.62;
R. Muther, The History of Modern Painting, vol. III, 1896, illustrated p.133;
R. Sturgis, The Appreciation of Pictures: A Handbook, 1905, pp.203-205, illustrated pl.XLVI;
Jeremy Maas, Victorian Painters, 1969, illustrated p.187;
Robyn Asleson, Albert Moore, 2000, p.188

The following condition report has been prepared by Hamish Dewar Ltd, 14 Masons Yard, Duke Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6BU. EXAMINATION / TREATMENT REPORT UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The canvas is unlined and providing a reasonably secure and stable structural support. There is a pattern of fine lines of drying craquelure which are entirely stable and could be reduced, if required, with localised consolidation. Lining should certainly not be required for the foreseeable future. The turnover edge has partially split on the upper horizontal edge and should be strengthened. Paint surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer and no retouchings are visible under ultraviolet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good condition and requires the most minimal intervention. Please telephone the department on 0207 293 5718 if you have any questions about 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."

Waiting to Cross was Albert Moore's only contribution to the Grosvenor Gallery exhibition of 1888. The composition, of three female figures standing together with their arms entwined, had been adopted for a contemporary picture A River Side exhibited at the Royal Academy in the same year. The Royal Academy picture is now lost and only known from a preliminary cartoon. The figures in A River Side faced the spectator and were all adults but Moore chose to replace the central figure of a woman with a younger girl in Waiting to Cross, which created a far more rhythmic and pleasing composition. The colour scheme of pale grey and chartreuse is typically sophisticated and harmonic. He relished the repeating abstract patterns formed by the draperies of the robes and the leaves of the trees which serve the same purpose as the wrought ironwork in Lightning and Light and the printed fabrics in pictures like Red Berries (Private collection) and Reading Aloud (Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum). 

Although his mature work is often said to be devoid of a narrative element, by the 1880s Moore had become 'once more conscious and appreciative of the world around. They illustrated occurrences' (Baldry). These pictures were unlike those from the 1870s, such as Sea-Gulls (Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead), Shells (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), Beads (National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh), Sapphires and Birds (both Birmingham Art Gallery and Museum), which are essentially without a subject. Thus with pictures like Summer Night of 1884-90 (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), Lightning and Light of 1892 (Lord Lloyd-Webber) and Loves of the Winds and Seasons of 1893 (Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery) there is an implication of an unfolding event. In Waiting to Cross there is a sense of anticipation, of the figures awaiting the arrival of a boat to take them across the water and as one of the girls glances back over her shoulder she engages the attention of the spectator.

It is likely that Waiting to Cross was conceived around the time that Moore drew a small pastel entitled The Apple Picker (sold in these rooms, 21 June 1989, lot 114) depicting two diaphanously-robed women and a young girl seen from behind addressing a naked youth in the boughs of a tree.  There is a similarity between this drawing and depictions of the mythical beauty contest held on Mount Ida known as the Judgement of Paris in which the eponymous shepherd awarded a golden apple to one of the three goddesses Juno, Venus and Minerva. The entwined poses of the three figures also bring to mind paintings and sculptures of the Three Graces. However it is unlikely that either the drawing or the present picture depict any specific mythological characters and by giving the painting the title Waiting to Cross, rather than a Latin or Greek name, the artist has underlined the modernity of the picture. Like many of Moore's pictures, these women are poised on a threshold in an ordered and harmonious composition, as can be seen in A Wardrobe, The Decorator and A Yellow Room.

Although it is difficult to identify the models that posed for Moore's pictures, as he tended to abbreviate their features into a generic classical ideal, but it appears likely that the models for the two women, one dark and the other blonde, are the same as those that feature in one of Moore's masterpieces Midsummer painted in the previous year (Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, Bournemouth).