A Lonely Grange

细节

Benjamin Williams Leader, R.A. (1831-1923)
A Lonely Grange
signed and dated 'B.W.LEADER.1902' (lower left) and further signed and inscribed 'A Lonely Grange For over all there hung a cloud of fear, A sense of mystery the spirit daunted, And said as plain as a whisper in the ear, The place is haunted B.W.Leader' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
36 1/8 x 60½ in. (91.7 x 153.7 cm.)

来源

Purchased from the artist by Agnew's, March 1902 (£400).
From whom purchased by Sydney Bates, 1902 (£500).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 13 December 1984, lot 25.
Anonymous sale; Phillip's, London, 21 March 1989, lot 16.
with Beaton-Brown, from where purchased by the present vendor, a descendant of the artist.

出版

The artist's own sale records, 1902.
Royal Academy Pictures, London, 1902, p. 18, illustrated.
Art Journal, 1902, p. 208.
H. Blackburn, Academy Notes, London, 1902, p. 31, p. 141, illustrated.
Windsor Magazine, London, 1911, p. 455, illustrated.
F. Lewis, B.W. Leader, Leigh-on-Sea, 1971, p. 51, no. 532.
R. Wood, Benjamin Williams Leader: His Life and Paintings', Woodbridge, 1998, p. 130.

展览

London, Royal Academy, 1902, no. 745.

注意事项

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

拍品专文

This evening scene, in which the last rays of sun are reflected on the gables and windows of an unidentifiable old manor house, and in the still water, bears witness to the distinctive style that was to make Leader one of the most popular landscape artist's during his lifetime. After exhibiting at the Royal Academy for over half a century, his facility to create landscapes in which the eye can wander with ease had not diminished at the age of seventy one, when this scene was painted in his studio at Burrows Cross in Surrey.

The quotation inscribed on the canvas reverse is the seventh stanza from Thomas Hood's poem The Haunted House. Hood (1799-1845) was a relatively minor poet whose work nevertheless attained great popularity in its day. Leader's evocation of the scene is perfectly judged; we feel a sense of trepidation as we look across the expanse of water towards the grange, its windows glittering from afar.

We are grateful to Ruth Wood for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.