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Lot Essay
This plaque previously belonged to John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), a merchant banker who in the late 19th and early 20th century was one of the most powerful men in the USA. Morgan began collecting works of art in the early 1900s and by the time of his death his collection was vast and generally considered to be one of the best in the world, with an estimated value of some $160,000,000. The collection grew to such proportions that Charles Follen McKim was commissioned to design an Italian Renaissance-style palazzo in New York to hold it (now the Pierpont Morgan Library).
The breadth of Morgan’s collection resulted from his desire to acquire only the most highly prized works of all types, rather than a comprehensive selection of any one area. To help him in his search for works, Morgan used a number of experts, such as the German museum curator Wilhelm von Bode and the English dealers Thomas Agnew and Sons. In keeping with the mood of nascent national pride characteristic of America in the late nineteenth century, Morgan wished to build up a collection whose quality and range would make travel to Europe superfluous.
The current lot was later acquired by Emily Hesslein, the daughter of German-Jewish immigrants that settled in Bradford in Yorkshire in the 1860s, who herself amassed an impressive collection of French and British modern art. Her brother, Albert Rutherston, was an artist who mixed in artistic circles with Stanley Spencer, Wyndham Lewis and Spencer Gore. With Augustus John and William Orpen he became part of the 'Three Musketeers', known for their extroverted 'Sladey' behaviour.
The enamel depicts the celebrated antique bronze now in the Capitoline Museum in a fictional setting. It closely follows the horse painted by Leonard Limosin in the equestrian portrait of Henry II in the Louvre (see S. Banatte, Les Emaux peints de Limoges, Paris, 2000, p. 160, N 1247).
The breadth of Morgan’s collection resulted from his desire to acquire only the most highly prized works of all types, rather than a comprehensive selection of any one area. To help him in his search for works, Morgan used a number of experts, such as the German museum curator Wilhelm von Bode and the English dealers Thomas Agnew and Sons. In keeping with the mood of nascent national pride characteristic of America in the late nineteenth century, Morgan wished to build up a collection whose quality and range would make travel to Europe superfluous.
The current lot was later acquired by Emily Hesslein, the daughter of German-Jewish immigrants that settled in Bradford in Yorkshire in the 1860s, who herself amassed an impressive collection of French and British modern art. Her brother, Albert Rutherston, was an artist who mixed in artistic circles with Stanley Spencer, Wyndham Lewis and Spencer Gore. With Augustus John and William Orpen he became part of the 'Three Musketeers', known for their extroverted 'Sladey' behaviour.
The enamel depicts the celebrated antique bronze now in the Capitoline Museum in a fictional setting. It closely follows the horse painted by Leonard Limosin in the equestrian portrait of Henry II in the Louvre (see S. Banatte, Les Emaux peints de Limoges, Paris, 2000, p. 160, N 1247).