Sir John Everett Millais, P.R.A. (1829-1896)

Greenwich Pensioners at the Tomb of Nelson

Details

Sir John Everett Millais, P.R.A. (1829-1896)
Greenwich Pensioners at the Tomb of Nelson
signed with monogram (lower left) and signed and inscribed 'Greenwich Pensioners/before the tomb/of Nelson/J.E. Millais R.A.' (on an old label on the reverse)
oil on board
13 x 9 in. (33 x 22.8 cm.)

Provenance

Bought from the artist by Thos. Agnew & Sons, 1868.
Bought from Agnew's by W. Cox, 11 May 1868.
Anon. sale, Christie's London, 8 May 1869, lot 98 (unsold at 180gns).
Bought by Agnew's from Morby, 12 May 1869.
Bought from Agnew's by John Heugh, 24 May 1869.
Heugh sale; Christie's London, 25 April 1874, lot 175 (160gns. to Cox) Abraham Mitchell.
Humphrey Roberts by 1898.
Bought from Roberts by Agnew's, 22 March 1904.
Agnew's sale; Brown & Rose, Liverpool, 19 March 1909, lot 606.
F.C. Johnson; Christie's London, 3 March 1913, lot 118 (32 gns. to Holland).
With Arthur Tooth.
Anon sale, Christie's London, 11 June 1993, lot 128.

Literature

M.H. Spielmann, Millais and his Works, 1898, p.183
J.G. Millais, The Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais, 1899, II, p.473.

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy, Works of the Late Sir John Everett Millais, Bart., Winter 1898, no. 201 (as 'Pilgrims to St. Paul's (sketch for)').

Sale room notice

Please note this frame is on loan from Arnold Wiggins & Sons and is available for purchase at 1,800.

Lot Essay

A small version of a picture exhibited by Millais at the Royal Academy in 1868, with the title Pilgrims to St. Paul's (where Nelson is buried). The large picture (56 x 44in.), which, like the present version, was bought from the artist by Agnew's, was destroyed in a fire at Tilbrook Hall, near Kimbolton, in 1933.

We are grateful to Dr. Malcolm Warner for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.

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