拍品專文
This present picture, inscribed 'The Evening Hour' on the stretcher, is a study for one of Leader's most celebrated paintings, 'In the evening it shall be light'. The final composition was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882, no. 737, and secured for Leader his election as an Associate in January 1883. When the picture was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889, no. 83, Leader was awarded a gold medal and made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. The picture was sold at Sotheby's, London, 14 June 1989, lot 54, with the tombstones overpainted.
In 'The Life and Work of B.W. Leader, R.A.', Art Annual, 1901, p. 1, Lewis Lusk said of the Academy picture: '...we are all agreed that In the evening it shall be light is his finest production, most simple and strong in the technique, and most poetically suggestive in meaning. The old church of Whittington, with its great black yew-trees and mossed tombstones, has endured a heavy day of storm; upon the drenched landscape at last bursts the sunshine, and the long hours of gloom end in a ruddy glow which foretells a fine morrow. There is evidently an allegory here also. It happens sometimes that a human life has to endure heavy storm and hard press until the day of its existence draws nigh to a close. And then the storm passes away, and the evening of life becomes filled with golden peace, and like those black yew trees, the sombre past, thus illumined with that mellow light, seem to have a mellow beauty of its own.'
In his diary of 16 January, 1882, Leader mentions 'a six foot monochrome study which I will also turn into a picture'. This is the present work, subsequently coloured in close approximation to the slightly larger Academy picture. As was the case with many of his Academy works, Leader painted several smaller versions in addition to the main canvas. Two versions were dated 1882, one, signed and dated 1897, was acquired by Manchester City Art Gallery in 1934, and another hung in pride of place above the fireplace in Leader's studio until his death. The picture was the artist's favourite, and the subject his most popular, according to Lusk eclipsing even the famous February Fill Dyke of 1881 (Birmingham City Art Gallery).
Samuel Armitage, M.P. (1828-1906), of Chasley House, Pendleton, Manchester, the first owner of this canvas, was the fourth son of Sir Elkanah Armitage, a wealthy textile manufacturer.
We are grateful to Ruth Wood for her help in preparing this and the following five catalogue entries. The pictures will be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's works, and in B.W. Leader: His Life and Paintings, to be published by the Antique Collector's Club.
In 'The Life and Work of B.W. Leader, R.A.', Art Annual, 1901, p. 1, Lewis Lusk said of the Academy picture: '...we are all agreed that In the evening it shall be light is his finest production, most simple and strong in the technique, and most poetically suggestive in meaning. The old church of Whittington, with its great black yew-trees and mossed tombstones, has endured a heavy day of storm; upon the drenched landscape at last bursts the sunshine, and the long hours of gloom end in a ruddy glow which foretells a fine morrow. There is evidently an allegory here also. It happens sometimes that a human life has to endure heavy storm and hard press until the day of its existence draws nigh to a close. And then the storm passes away, and the evening of life becomes filled with golden peace, and like those black yew trees, the sombre past, thus illumined with that mellow light, seem to have a mellow beauty of its own.'
In his diary of 16 January, 1882, Leader mentions 'a six foot monochrome study which I will also turn into a picture'. This is the present work, subsequently coloured in close approximation to the slightly larger Academy picture. As was the case with many of his Academy works, Leader painted several smaller versions in addition to the main canvas. Two versions were dated 1882, one, signed and dated 1897, was acquired by Manchester City Art Gallery in 1934, and another hung in pride of place above the fireplace in Leader's studio until his death. The picture was the artist's favourite, and the subject his most popular, according to Lusk eclipsing even the famous February Fill Dyke of 1881 (Birmingham City Art Gallery).
Samuel Armitage, M.P. (1828-1906), of Chasley House, Pendleton, Manchester, the first owner of this canvas, was the fourth son of Sir Elkanah Armitage, a wealthy textile manufacturer.
We are grateful to Ruth Wood for her help in preparing this and the following five catalogue entries. The pictures will be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's works, and in B.W. Leader: His Life and Paintings, to be published by the Antique Collector's Club.