Lot Essay
Omar Khayyam was a Persian astronomer and poet who was born at Naishapur in Khorassan in the latter half of the 11th Century and died in 1173. The Rubaiyat is a translation of his rubais or quatrains which meditate on the mysteries of exisitence and urge the reader to drink and live life to the full while it lasts. The stanzas were first translated by Edward Fitzgerald in 1859 in 75 quatrains, but were remodelled and enlarged to 110 quatrains in 1868. They were subsequently modified and reduced to 101 quatrains in 1872 and 1879. After having been largely ignored after initial publication, their popularity steadily increased throughout the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
At the time of these watercolours' execution, Maurice Greiffenhagen was headmaster of the Life School at the Glasgow School of Art, a post held from 1906 to 1929. It is interesting to note how his contact there with the art of Charles Rennie Mackintosh has influenced his depiction of the flowers in these works. Of Danish descent he was educated at University College School in London and at the Royal Academy Schools where he was awarded the Armitage Prize in 1878. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1884 and was made ARA in 1916 and RA in 1922 but also showed at the New English Art Club, the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Institute of Painters in Oil-Colours. Initially an illustrator for the Illustrated London News and other magazines, he also painted portraits in a Whistlerian mode and latterly executed large scale decorative panels with historical themes. Despite his Glasgow appointment he lived much of his life in London, in St. John's Wood and Primrose Hill, where he was a friend of J.W. Waterhouse.
At the time of these watercolours' execution, Maurice Greiffenhagen was headmaster of the Life School at the Glasgow School of Art, a post held from 1906 to 1929. It is interesting to note how his contact there with the art of Charles Rennie Mackintosh has influenced his depiction of the flowers in these works. Of Danish descent he was educated at University College School in London and at the Royal Academy Schools where he was awarded the Armitage Prize in 1878. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1884 and was made ARA in 1916 and RA in 1922 but also showed at the New English Art Club, the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Institute of Painters in Oil-Colours. Initially an illustrator for the Illustrated London News and other magazines, he also painted portraits in a Whistlerian mode and latterly executed large scale decorative panels with historical themes. Despite his Glasgow appointment he lived much of his life in London, in St. John's Wood and Primrose Hill, where he was a friend of J.W. Waterhouse.