Some have entertained angels unawares

Details

Edward Clifford (1844-1907)
Some have entertained angels unawares
signed and dated 'Edward Clifford 1871.' (lower right)
pencil and watercolour heightened with bodycolour and gum arabic on paper laid on canvas, in the original frame
25 1/8 x 38 in. (63.8 x 96.7 cm.)

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 2 November 1994, lot 191, where purchased by the father of the present owner.

Literature

Art Journal, 'General Exhibition of Watercolour Drawings, Dudley Gallery', 1872, p. 74.

Exhibited

London, Dudley Gallery, 1872, no. 418.

Special notice

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Brought to you by

Clare Keiller

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Lot Essay

Edward Clifford was deeply religious, and was honorary Secretary of the evangelical Church Army. His work often takes passages from the Bible as its subject, and the present watercolour is taken from the Epistle of St Paul to the Hebrews: ‘Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.’ Alongside Robert Bateman, Walter Crane and others, Clifford was part of a group of followers of Burne-Jones who exhibited at the Dudley Gallery in the late 1860s and 1870s.

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