Romantic Redmore Sails back to Yorkshire
|
A full to bursting sale room saw a number of resounding prices at Mallams auction on 28th May in Cheltenham. The top lot of the day was a scene of Whitby by the well-known Hull based artist Henry Redmore (1820-1887). Dated to the middle of the Victorian period, when Whitby had become a haven for holiday makers increasingly desperate to get away from the industrialised cities, fishermen are shown reeling in their hauls at the end of a long days work. The pinkish hue of the sky and the ruined Abbey in the distance, which would twenty five years later inspire Bram Stoker when writing Dracula, all help to present a romanticised and idealised view cherished by an ever growing middle class in the Victorian era. Consigned from a Cheltenham town house, it had both been relined and retouched, which was reflected in the estimate of £1,500-2,500, however these issues of condition did not deter the buyers. With a full bank of telephone lines booked, it raced past its estimate and raced on, until the hammer eventually fell at £5,200 (all prices not inclusive of premium) and it will now be making its way back to Yorkshire. Other notable prices in the picture section included a painting of nudes bathing in a Venetian lagoon by the romantic artist Edward Matthew Hale (1852-1924). Its provenance included being in the collection of the Earl of Harrowby, before being sold at Christies in 1962 for the grand total of £20. It faired slightly better at Mallams just surpassing the high estimate and selling for £1,700. Four lots further on in the sale a 17th Century portrait of a lady in a satin dress, with lambs by her side and in a classical landscape also interested the bidders and ended up selling for £2,400. In the furniture and clock section, a George III mahogany musical longcase clock by James Simpson of Lincoln made the highest price in this segment of the sale. Having eight day movement, striking on twelve bells and with arch painted moving dial decorated with phases of the moon, it was an unusual example of this type of country clock. Its patriotic nature, having tunes including Rule Britannia, meant the buyers favoured it above other musical clocks in the sale and it sold for £3,200. Later on in the sale a George III mahogany tall boy reached £2,300 and a bronze of a boy teasing a duck made £1,500. |