Footnotes

Provenance
A.C.J. Wall, thence by descent to the present owners
Private Collection, U.K.

Exhibited
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, 3 May-14 August 1915, cat.no.681

The present work depicts the miraculous healing told in the Gospel of John (5:1-15). With Christ's word, the waters of the pool of Bethesda stirred and a man who had been invalid for 38 years was cured. This subject was painted by several of the Old Masters, including Murillo, Panini, Tiepolo and Hogarth, whose Christ at the Pool of Bethesda (1735-36) hangs at St Bartholomew's hospital. In Brockhurst's variation the scene is classically composed in a Nazarene manner as the young artist pays homage to the great tradition of biblical painting. Yet there are ample hallmarks of the style which he was to refine throughout his career; the intricacy and pattern of the drapery and awnings, the deftly rendered expressive faces and the dramatic employment of varying light sources that isolate the key figures from their surroundings. Fifteen years after the work was first exhibited it was noted that 'The picture gives ample presage of that which subsequently transpired, and it also contains a self-portrait, in the figure of the dark-eyed man behind Christ' (Jessica Walker Stephens, 'Gerald Leslie Brockhurst, ARA, RE', Apollo, 1930, p.118). In addition to the self-portrait, it is more than likely that Brockhurst's first wife Anaïs Folen, modelled for a number of the female figures, identifiable by her dark hair and strong features.

The painting was executed whilst Brockhurst was at the Royal Academy Schools, and for it he received a Gold Medal award and traveling scholarship in 1913. He had proved a prodigious talent, having previously won the Armitage Medal, named for the Victorian painter Edward Armitage, who may have influenced the present work. In 1915 Pool of Bethesda was accepted to the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, the first work by Brockhurst to be shown there (he would later be elected R.A. in 1937).

The present, prior and following lots all formerly belonged to A.C.J. Wall. Wall purchased, and commissioned, several further works by Brockhurst including a portrait (sold in these rooms, 23 June 2015 for £20,000, see fig.1).

Wall was a Birmingham based industrialist who started collecting in the 1930s. His was an eclectic taste, ranging across paintings, ceramics, furniture and sculpture. He was well known as a benefactor to the arts, particularly in Birmingham where he was the mayor, and he was known to have sat for a bust portrait by Jacob Epstein. Selected works from his collection were sold by Christie's in 1970 with many pieces being bought by leading international museums.

We are grateful to Professor Kenneth McConkey for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.