A floral heart: design for a frontispiece (?)

Details

Herman Henstenburgh (Hoorn 1667-1726)
A floral heart: design for a frontispiece (?)
signed 'H: Henstenburg.' and with inscription 'N 1'
black chalk, watercolour, bodycolour on vellum
11 7/8 x 10 1/8 in. (300 x 256 mm.)

Provenance

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (1713-1792), on his mount.
W. Esdaile (L. 2617, twice), with inscription and shelfmark 'Ld Bute's Colln 1794 P48 N15' and number '15' on the mount.

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

Dr. Sam Segal has kindly suggested that this drawing may have made as a frontispiece for a small collection of flower drawings. The Earl of Bute had an extremely large and famous collection of botanical books, prints and drawings, the majority of which were sold at auction in 1794. However this drawing appears to have been bought privately by William Esdaile as it does not appear in the sale. Esdaile must in turn have passed it on privately as it does not appear in his own posthumous sales in 1839-40.

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