Three children crouching around a source of light

Details

Circle of William Blake (1757-1827)
Three children crouching around a source of light
black ink and grey wash
5 5/8 x 7½ in. (14.4 x 19.1 cm.)

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 17 November 1987, lot 2 as by John Flaxman, with another (sold £220).
with Agnew's.

Literature

M. Butlin Six New Early Drawings by William Blake and a Reattribution.
Blake, an Illustrated Quarterly, XXIV, no. 1, Summer 1989, p. 232, as by John Flaxman.
Blake, an Illustrated Quarterly, XXII, no. 2, Autumn 1989, p. 109, fig. 3, as by William Blake.
Robert Essick Blake in the Marketplace, 1989

Exhibited

London, Agnew's, 116th Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, February - March 1989, no. 22, illustrated, as by William Blake.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis This lot is subject to Collection and Storage charges

Lot Essay

Martin Butlin's reattribution of this work to William Blake has not been generally accepted. Robert Essick reconfirms the original attribution to John Flaxman, while Deflof Dörrbecker (see Essick, op. cit.) has suggested that it is one of a group of similar works perhaps by William Young Otley (1771-1836).

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