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

Commissioned from the artist in 1878 by Mr Metford Warner and with him until his death in 1930, thence by descent to his son Marcus Warner of Guildford with whom it remained until his death in 1954 when bequeathed to his nephew Roger Warner and loaned to the Victoria & Albert Museum, London until 1989;
Shepherd Gallery, New York, 1989;
Sotheby's, London, 23 October 1990, lot 74;
Private collection, Japan

London, Royal Academy, 1878, no.1366;
On loan to the Victoria & Albert Museum, London during the 1950s and 1960s; 
New York, Shepherd Gallery, English Romantic Art 1850-1920 – Pre-Raphaelites, Academics, Symbolists – Drawings, Watercolours, Graphics and Paintings, 1989, no.88

Alfred L. Baldry, Albert Moore – His Life and Works, 1894, pp.48, 103;
Roger Warner, 'Starting Over' in Regional Furniture, Vol XVII, 2003, p.83;
Robyn Asleson, Albert Moore, 2000, pp. 140, 222

The canvas has been lined. There are areas of craquelure. The work may benefit from a light clean. Otherwise the work appears to be in good condition. UV light inspection reveals some minor flecks of retouching to the figure's feet and to her face. A few minor touches elsewhere. Held in the original gilt frame.
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Garnets was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1878, the composition based upon Carnations of 1877 (sold in these rooms, 22 November 1983, lot 50), although the figure is in a mirrored pose and the decorative details are different. Moore would often repeat poses and compositions with different colour harmonies and the addition of alternative details from which the pictures take their titles. In Garnets the beautiful golden-green toga of a model is harmonised with the gilded walls behind and two bronze vases. This shimmering colour scheme is given contrast with the orange-hued rug, the girl's headscarf and her bead necklace, the stones of which give the painting its title. The red of the beads is picked up again by a carnation placed at the model's feet and the gold background is punctuated by the silvery-white of the honesty arranged in one of the pots.