George Elgar Hicks, R.A. (1824-1914)
Property from the Estate of the Late Ian Fry (Lots 122, 126, 137, 148-151, 154, 161-166)
George Elgar Hicks, R.A. (1824-1914)

The General Post Office, One minute before six

Details
George Elgar Hicks, R.A. (1824-1914)
The General Post Office, One minute before six
signed and dated 'GE Hicks. 1860.' (lower right) and further signed and dated 'G.E. Hicks/1860' (on the reverse)
oil on panel
13 ½ x 21 3/8 in. (34.3 x 54.3 cm.)
Provenance
Commissioned by Mr Vokins (£70).
Miss E. Cochran; Sotheby's, Belgravia, 22 February 1972, lot 50.
with Richard Green, London.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Belgravia, 9 July 1974, lot 70.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 16 December 2010, lot 5.
Literature
Recorded in Hicks' notebook, 1859.
Geffrye Museum, George Elgar Hicks, 1982-3, pp. 22, 55.
Exhibited
Tehran, Hilton Hotel, Exhibition of Paintings from the Fourteenth-Nineteenth Century, May 1975, no. 445.
London, Geffrye Museum and Southampton Art Gallery, George Elgar Hicks: Painter of Victorian Life, 1983, no. 22a.

Brought to you by

Clare Keiller
Clare Keiller

Lot Essay

This painting illustrates the grand public hall of St Martin's-Le-Grand post office in London, built between 1824 and 1829 by Robert Smirke, R.A. (1780-1867), architect of the British Museum. It shows the hectic moments as crowds rush to meet the six o'clock post, particularly on Friday night when newspapers were delivered en masse to achieve the deadline for free postage. This is particularly evident to the right side of the painting where the 'Newspaper Fair or Shoot' can be seen in which a window was opened at the same time at the end of each day (except Sunday) to allow for the rapid influx of newspapers. For further reading see M. Bills, ''The General Post Office - One Minute to Six' by George Elgar Hicks', The Burlington Magazine, vol. 144, no. 1194, September 2002, pp. 550-6).
This is a replica of the larger version which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1860 (no. 367, now at the Museum of London). A further sketch is recorded in Hicks' notebook (whereabouts unknown).

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