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HERCULES BRABAZON BRABAZON
LOTS 37-46
‘Brabazon is the only person since Turner at whose feet I can sit and worship and learn about colour’ wrote John Ruskin in 1882, revealing the esteem in which he held for Hercules Brabazon Brabazon. Wider recognition and fame came late in Brabazon’s life; after inheriting family estates in 1847 and 1858 along with independent means, Brabazon could paint and travel without the necessity of public exhibitions. During the summers he lived in Oaklands, Sussex, while he travelled widely in the winter months. Brabazon was drawn to Venice, the Riviera and further afield to Egypt, the Middle East and to India which he visited three times in the 1870s. By the 1880s his bold compositions and colours so revered by Ruskin also attracted a younger generation of supporters including Walter Sickert and John Wilson Steer. Brabazon was elected to the New English Arts Club in 1891 where he exhibited for the first time at the age of 70. Brabazon had met John Singer Sargent in 1885 and introduced the young artist to the techniques of watercolour. In turn, Sargent organized Brabazon’s first one man exhibition at the Goupil Gallery in 1892. Sargent enthusiastically wrote in the introduction ‘Each sketch is a new delight of harmony, and the harmonies are innumerable and unexpected, taken from Nature or, rather imposed by her’, capturing the spirit of light and liveliness that pervades Brabazon's watercolours.
A number of the following watercolours were owned by Sir William Eden, 5th and 7th Bt. (1845-1915) a talented watercolourist himself (see lot 45) and an associate of The Souls. His large collection of drawings and watercolours were sold in these Rooms, 1 March 1918 and included works by Sargent, Sickert, Steer and twenty Brabazons. Some of the Brabazons entered Virginia Surtees collection as a bequest from the Carstairs. Charles Carstairs was a partner in the art gallery Knoedlers which purchased several of the Brabazons in the Eden sale.
Hercules Brabazon Brabazon (1821-1906)
The Church of Gesuati, on the Zattere, Venice (illustrated); and A coastal landscape with a tower, possibly Cadiz
Details
Hercules Brabazon Brabazon (1821-1906)
The Church of Gesuati, on the Zattere, Venice (illustrated); and A coastal landscape with a tower, possibly Cadiz
both signed with initials 'H B B' (lower right)
watercolour and bodycolour on buff paper
10 x 14 in. (25.4 x 35.1 cm.); and 7 ½ x 10 in. (19 x 25.5 cm.)
(2)
The Church of Gesuati, on the Zattere, Venice (illustrated); and A coastal landscape with a tower, possibly Cadiz
both signed with initials 'H B B' (lower right)
watercolour and bodycolour on buff paper
10 x 14 in. (25.4 x 35.1 cm.); and 7 ½ x 10 in. (19 x 25.5 cm.)
(2)
Provenance
Sir William Eden, Bt.
Mrs Charles Hunter; Christie's, London, 9 July 1920, lots 111 and 116, as 'The Church of the Redentore Venice' and 'A Lake Scene with Tower' (3 gns and 2 gns to Knoedler respectively).
Mr and Mrs Charles Carstairs by whom bequeathed to
Virginia Surtees.
Mrs Charles Hunter; Christie's, London, 9 July 1920, lots 111 and 116, as 'The Church of the Redentore Venice' and 'A Lake Scene with Tower' (3 gns and 2 gns to Knoedler respectively).
Mr and Mrs Charles Carstairs by whom bequeathed to
Virginia Surtees.
Brought to you by
Brandon Lindberg
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