On the Thames

Details

Benjamin Williams Leader, R.A. (1831-1923)
On the Thames
signed and dated 'B.W.LEADER. 1878.' (lower left)
oil on canvas
24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm.)

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Christie's, 8 November 1946, lot 87, as 'Silvery Morn' (155 gns).
with Oscar and Peter Johnston Ltd., London, by 1974.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 14 December 1983, lot 67, as 'A Bend in the River'.
with Richard Green, London.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London 17 June 1987, lot 44, as 'A Bend in the River'.

Literature

The artist's own sale records, 1873.

Exhibited

London, Oscar and Peter Johnston Ltd., April-July 1974.

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.

Lot Essay

The present picture is recorded as being dated '1873' until December 1983. Leader's own diary supports this; on 7 November 1873 he wrote: '...[nearly] all Oct I spent at Streatley on Thames...did a lot of work sketching and laying in pictures...Took them to Town and finished them in the gallery. They were hasty and a little crude but are much liked and sold on private viewing day'.

One of these paintings was Autumn on the Thames, and it is listed in the artist's inventory of pictures sold in October 1873 (for £95).
Ruth Wood, the leading authority on Leader, believes the present work's original title to be Autumn on the Thames. She suggests that the correct '1873' date may have been erroneously strengthened following cleaning.

We are grateful to Ruth Wood for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.

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