Herman Gustave Herkomer (1863-1935)
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Herman Gustave Herkomer (1863-1935)

Sir Hubert von Herkomer, R.A., three-quarter-length, standing, wearing the Slade Professor's gown and holding a mortar-board

Details
Herman Gustave Herkomer (1863-1935)
Sir Hubert von Herkomer, R.A., three-quarter-length, standing, wearing the Slade Professor's gown and holding a mortar-board
signed and dated 'Herman G. Herkomer/1887' (lower left)
oil on canvas
56 ¼ x 44 in. (143 x 111.7 cm.)
Literature
Art Journal, 1887, p. 246.
Illustrated London News, 21 May 1887, p. 584.
'Studio Talk', The International Studio, 1917, vol. 61, p. 139.
L.M. Edwards, Herkomer: A Victorian Artist, 1999, p. 139, fig. 144.
Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, 1887, no. 413.
Paris, Salon, 1888, no. 1285.
San Francisco, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, 1915, no. 3363.
Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery, Sixth Biennial Exposition of Contemporary Art, December 1916.
San Francisco, The Bohemian Club, annual Exhibition, January-February 1922, no. 27, lent by the artist.
San Francisco, de Young Museum, on loan from September 1925, lent by the artist.
San Francisco, Legion of Honor, on loan from 1929, lent by the artist.
Special notice
These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.
Sale room notice
Please note that there is a label on the stretcher inscribed 'Herman G Herkomer/... Cal. U.S.A./Sir ... Herkomer R.A./Portrait/Herman G. Herkomer/Vict ... Jany ... 550 Sutter St./San Francisco'.

Brought to you by

Clare Keiller
Clare Keiller

Lot Essay

In this portrait Herman Herkomer has painted his first cousin Hubert Herkomer in the gown he wore as Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, a position he gained in 1885 and held until 1894.

Herman Herkomer was born in Cleveland, Ohio, studying in New York and Munich. In 1881 he joined his cousin in Bushey, Hertfordshire, the elder cousin providing painting lessons to his younger relation, possibly by making copies of his own works: In March 1882 Herman wrote to his father that he had been asked to make 'a drawing (large) of Hubert's Missing. It is to go in the Graphic.' (the watercolour copy and the related letter are at Yale Center for British Art, New Haven). Later in 1882 the cousins made a portrait-painting tour of the United States. On his return to England Herman studied in Munich and Paris, exhibiting at the Paris Salons and the Royal Academy, London. He earned a solid reputation as a portrait painter, and he remained in England until 1915 when he travelled to San Francisco to receive a silver medal at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. He remained in California for the rest of his life, and his works can be found in public institutions on both sides of the Atlantic.

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