Charles Dickens (1812-1870), facing left in black coat, white shirt and black cravat, beard and moustache

Details

WALTER SAUNDERS BARNARD (1851-1930)
Charles Dickens (1812-1870), facing left in black coat, white shirt and black cravat, beard and moustache
inscribed, signed and dated on the reverse 'Charles Dickens from life on ivory Walter Barnard 1868.'
oval, 13/8 in. (35 mm.) high, silver frame with glazed reverse

Provenance

Bath, Liberal Association's Sale, 1930 (to John Clark of Street).

Literature

D. Foskett, A Dictionary of British Miniature Painters, London, 1972, I, p. 150.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

This lot is sold with two newspaper cuttings and a letter dating from 1930 giving details of the inquest held into the death of the miniaturist, Walter Saunders Barnard, who had been knocked down by a tramcar in Islington. The inquest heard that the penniless deceased's miniature of Charles Dickens was his favoured possession and that he had valued the portrait so highly during his life that he had refused £70 rather than part with it (D. Foskett, op.cit. p. 150). The miniature was found in his pocket on his death. The inquest revealed that that there were two portraits of Dickens by Barnard as a Mr Strube said that Mr Barnard had given him a miniature of Dickens (R. Ormond, Early Victorian Portraits, London, 1973, I, p. 145 as undated) and the newspaper illustration confirms this.

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