Sir John Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S. (1817-1897)

Rubens in his Studio

Details

Sir John Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S. (1817-1897)
Rubens in his Studio
signed 'John Gilbert 1862' (lower right)
watercolour heightened with bodycolour and with gum arabic and scratching out
29.7/8 x 24 in. (75.5 x 62.5 cm.)

Provenance

William H. Vanderbilt.
George Washington Vanderbilt II.
Brigadier General Cornelius Vanderbilt III; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 18 April 1945, lot 45 ($350).
Ross L. Peacock.

Literature

Edward Strahan, The Art Treasures of America, Being the Choicest Works of Art In the Public and Private Collections of America, Philadelphia, 1880, p. 108
Edward Strahan, Mr. Vanderbilt's House and Collection, New York, 1883-84, Vol. III, p. 34, illustrated.
Anon., William H. Vanderbilt's Collection of Paintings, New York, 1884, no. 23, as hanging in the Vanderbilt residence at 640 Fifth Avenue.
Jerry E. Patterson, The Vanderbilts, New York, 1989, p. 105.

Exhibited

London, Old Watercolour Society, 1862, no. 109.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1902-19, Gallery VII, no. 110, on loan from George Washington Vanderbilt II.

Lot Essay

Elected President of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1871 and given a knighthood in 1872, Gilbert turned to painting in 1836 having abandoned his career as an estate agent. Initially, he worked as a book illustrator, completing almost 150 books and 30,000 drawings for the Illustrated London News; his reputation was however based on his paintings of historical genre scenes in the romantic tradition of George Cattermole. Although he exhibited oils at the Royal Academy, the British Institution and the Royal Society of British Artists, his watercolours, which are often extraordinarily inventive, found greater acclaim. Edward Strahan, describing the present example when it was in the Vanderbilt collection, wrote: 'Gilbert's colour is of the school of Rubens, florid, luscious, transparent...'.

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