European & British Art
European & British Art
A Vision of Arcadia – An Important English Private Collection
Mary Hayllar
For a Good Boy
Lot Closed
December 14, 03:17 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A Vision of Arcadia – An Important English Private Collection
Mary Hayllar
British
1850 - 1950
For a Good Boy
signed and dated Mary Wells / 1880 lower left
oil on canvas
Unframed: 40.5 by 29cm., 16 by 11½in.
Framed: 53.5 by 42cm., 21 by 16½in.
Christopher Wood, London
Christopher Forbes (purchased from the above in 1989; sale: Christie's, London, 20 February 2003, lot 262)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
Christopher Forbes (purchased from the above in 1989; sale: Christie's, London, 20 February 2003, lot 262)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
London, Royal Academy, 1880, no. 641
Yale, Centre for British Art, A Struggle for Fame: Victorian Female Artists and Authors, 1994, no. 61
New York, The Forbes Magazine Galleries, Ladies of the Brush, 1994-1995, no. 21
Nottingham, Djanogly Art Gallery and Exeter, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, The Pursuit of Leisure; Victorian Depictions of Pastimes, 1997-1998, no. 59
Charlotte, Mint Museum of Art; Nashville, Cheekwood Museum of Art; Wilmington, Delaware Art Museum; Tampa Art Museum and New York, The Forbes Magazine Galleries, The Defining Moment: Victorian Narrative Paintings from the Forbes Magazine Collection, 2000-2001, no. 20
Yale, Centre for British Art, A Struggle for Fame: Victorian Female Artists and Authors, 1994, no. 61
New York, The Forbes Magazine Galleries, Ladies of the Brush, 1994-1995, no. 21
Nottingham, Djanogly Art Gallery and Exeter, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, The Pursuit of Leisure; Victorian Depictions of Pastimes, 1997-1998, no. 59
Charlotte, Mint Museum of Art; Nashville, Cheekwood Museum of Art; Wilmington, Delaware Art Museum; Tampa Art Museum and New York, The Forbes Magazine Galleries, The Defining Moment: Victorian Narrative Paintings from the Forbes Magazine Collection, 2000-2001, no. 20
Mary Wells, née Hayllar, was one from the remarkable daughters of the successful artist James Hayllar. Hayllar had nine children, four sons and five daughters, four of which became professional artists under his tutelage and guidance; Mary, Edith, Kate and Jessica. Like her sisters she delighted in painting the domestic life of her parent’s home, Castle Priory in Wallingford in the Berkshire countryside. She particularly favoured scenes with tea-tables laid out with enticing treats, comparable examples painted in the same year as For a Good Boy include The Tennis Party (sold in these rooms, 12 July 2007, lot 6) where the fare is very lavish and the more modest Breakfast also from the same year (Bonhams, London, 1 March 2017, lot 49). Despite considerable talent Mary was the least prolific of the sisters and her work is therefore rare. She only exhibited handful of pictures at the Royal Academy from 1880 to 1885. It seems that she ceased painting after her marriage to Henry Wells in 1887 when she devoted herself to raising their children.
For a Good Boy was included in the famous collection of Victorian paintings owned by the Forbes Magazine Collection and housed at Old Battersea House, along with examples by all of her sisters.
For a Good Boy was included in the famous collection of Victorian paintings owned by the Forbes Magazine Collection and housed at Old Battersea House, along with examples by all of her sisters.