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Lot Essay
Traditionally attributed to James Jacques Tissot (1836-1906) the present painting has now been credited to Frederick Vezin, an American-born artist who trained in Dusseldorf, Germany from 1876 until 1883. By 1884 he was in London exhibiting at the Royal Academy and the Grosvenor Gallery, and the following year he exhibited in Liverpool and Manchester.
The misattribution appears to have been based upon an inscription on the painting's stretcher which reads 'J.J. Tissot à Mrs. Gebhard'. This has been taken to be the record of a work by Tissot himself, but Tissot owned many works by other artists and is known to have given some away as well as selling some, for example works by Degas, Manet and Pissaro. It is possible that Tissot acquired the painting in 1897. On 15 September 1897 Vezin's uncle, the American actor Hermann Vezin, then residing at 10 Lancaster Place, London, wrote to Sir Henry Irving saying that his nephew, Fred Vezin of Dusseldorf, had a painting of Henley Regatta that he wanted to sell (Victoria & Albert Museum Theatre Collection, THM/37/7/42). Perhaps Tissot rather than Irving bought the painting, as Tissot is known to have acquired works to help other artists financially.
There are a number of stylistic reasons why an attribution to Tissot is also questionable, no less than the lack of signature for which Tissot is known to have been highly conscientious. He is not known to have painted panoramic landscapes and his figures are generally more prominent in his compositions. In writing on this picture, Christopher Wood noted that the work is 'so untypical of Tissot's output that its authenticity has been questioned.'
There are, however, a larger number of aspects of the painting that confirm the attribution to Vezin. Two works illustrating the Regatta were exhibited by Vezin in London: at the Institute of Painters in Oil Colours, 1885, no. 107; and at the XIX Century Art Society, 1886, no. 214. The XIX Century Art Society exhibit, illustrated in Henry Blackburn's Academy Sketches including Various Exhibitions (p. 151), is almost identical in composition and technique to the present painting, taken from the same view and with only a slight difference in the layout of the boats and figures. Furthermore in How the Rich Lived, Lucie-Smith and Dars illustrate a further work entitled The Regatta (dated 1889) alongside the present painting, and the similarities are clear in the format of the composition, the viewpoint above the water, the foreground figures only partially visible, and in the rendering of the water and trees.
Henley Regatta has been celebrated as one of the high points of the social season since Queen Victoria's reign. People went not only 'to see it all. They come to be seen. It is a society show. I do not suppose it causes as great a demand on the West-end milliners as Royal Ascot, but the dresses will be pretty, I warrant me; and the faces above them prettier still' (St Stephen's Review, 1887). The view illustrated is taken from the North bank near the finish looking East, with a number of the famous houseboats moored on the left.
We are grateful to Krystyna Matyjaszkiewicz for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.
The misattribution appears to have been based upon an inscription on the painting's stretcher which reads 'J.J. Tissot à Mrs. Gebhard'. This has been taken to be the record of a work by Tissot himself, but Tissot owned many works by other artists and is known to have given some away as well as selling some, for example works by Degas, Manet and Pissaro. It is possible that Tissot acquired the painting in 1897. On 15 September 1897 Vezin's uncle, the American actor Hermann Vezin, then residing at 10 Lancaster Place, London, wrote to Sir Henry Irving saying that his nephew, Fred Vezin of Dusseldorf, had a painting of Henley Regatta that he wanted to sell (Victoria & Albert Museum Theatre Collection, THM/37/7/42). Perhaps Tissot rather than Irving bought the painting, as Tissot is known to have acquired works to help other artists financially.
There are a number of stylistic reasons why an attribution to Tissot is also questionable, no less than the lack of signature for which Tissot is known to have been highly conscientious. He is not known to have painted panoramic landscapes and his figures are generally more prominent in his compositions. In writing on this picture, Christopher Wood noted that the work is 'so untypical of Tissot's output that its authenticity has been questioned.'
There are, however, a larger number of aspects of the painting that confirm the attribution to Vezin. Two works illustrating the Regatta were exhibited by Vezin in London: at the Institute of Painters in Oil Colours, 1885, no. 107; and at the XIX Century Art Society, 1886, no. 214. The XIX Century Art Society exhibit, illustrated in Henry Blackburn's Academy Sketches including Various Exhibitions (p. 151), is almost identical in composition and technique to the present painting, taken from the same view and with only a slight difference in the layout of the boats and figures. Furthermore in How the Rich Lived, Lucie-Smith and Dars illustrate a further work entitled The Regatta (dated 1889) alongside the present painting, and the similarities are clear in the format of the composition, the viewpoint above the water, the foreground figures only partially visible, and in the rendering of the water and trees.
Henley Regatta has been celebrated as one of the high points of the social season since Queen Victoria's reign. People went not only 'to see it all. They come to be seen. It is a society show. I do not suppose it causes as great a demand on the West-end milliners as Royal Ascot, but the dresses will be pretty, I warrant me; and the faces above them prettier still' (St Stephen's Review, 1887). The view illustrated is taken from the North bank near the finish looking East, with a number of the famous houseboats moored on the left.
We are grateful to Krystyna Matyjaszkiewicz for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.