John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893)

The Lotus gatherers

Details

John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893)
The Lotus gatherers
signed and dated 'Atkinson Grimshaw/IX 74' (lower right) and further signed, inscribed and dated 'The Lotus gatherers./Atkinson Grimshaw/Knostrop. Leeds./1874/+' (on the backboard)
oil on card
8.5/8 x 17¾ in. (21.9 x 45.1 cm.)

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 3 November 1989, lot 82.
The Eye of a Collector: Works from the Collection of Stanley J. Seeger; Sotheby's, London, 14 June 2001, lot 11.

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Lot Essay

Grimshaw's admiration for the poetry of Alfred Lord Tennyson was well-known and was the inspiration for many of his works. The present painting, inspired by Tennyson's poem The Lotus Eaters (included in the two volume edition of Poems, 1842), also illustrates Grimshaw's appreciation of the classicism found in works by Alma-Tadema. The lotus eaters inhabit a 'land where all things always seem the same'. Sailors who chanced upon their shores and ate of the lotus leaves remained enchanted, lulled into a sleepy stasis and trapped forever in the beautiful realm.

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