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Lot Essay
Stock is a relatively unknown but highly individual artist who was an exponent of the English Romantic tradition. He enjoyed success as a society portrait painter, but his main area of interest was always imaginative subjects. He drew inspiration from Biblical themes, Dante, Shakespeare and Wordsworth, amongst others. Visually he was influenced by a wide range of artists such as the Pre-Raphaelites, Rembrandt, Blake and G.F. Watts.
In this present watercolour we see Satan being cast into Hell as described in the Book of Revelation, ch. 19, v. 20. 'And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone'.
This watercolour comes from the collection of Francis P. Osmaston (1857-1925) who had a number of watercolours that he bought direct from Stock. He was a man of means who assisted struggling artists. He was also a musician and an author. Osmaston's taste for such subjects perhaps reflects the strong religious feeling amongst his family. The figure of the 'beast' falling through space has many precedents in Blake; Satan being cast into Hell in the engraved illustrations to the Book of Job is not only one of the closest thematically but probably the example most readily available to Stock.
In this present watercolour we see Satan being cast into Hell as described in the Book of Revelation, ch. 19, v. 20. 'And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone'.
This watercolour comes from the collection of Francis P. Osmaston (1857-1925) who had a number of watercolours that he bought direct from Stock. He was a man of means who assisted struggling artists. He was also a musician and an author. Osmaston's taste for such subjects perhaps reflects the strong religious feeling amongst his family. The figure of the 'beast' falling through space has many precedents in Blake; Satan being cast into Hell in the engraved illustrations to the Book of Job is not only one of the closest thematically but probably the example most readily available to Stock.