Polly Cornthwaite
Senior Cataloguer
Lot 154
John Brett, ARA(British, 1831-1902)'Irish Sea'
25 – 26 October 2022, 14:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge£2,000 - £3,000
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Rhyanon Demery
Head of Sale
John Brett, ARA (British, 1831-1902)
'Irish Sea'
incised inscription and indistinctly dated 'Irish Sea 9.1 Aug (?)' (lower right)
oil on board
18.1 x 36.2cm (7 1/8 x 14 1/4in).
incised inscription and indistinctly dated 'Irish Sea 9.1 Aug (?)' (lower right)
oil on board
18.1 x 36.2cm (7 1/8 x 14 1/4in).
Footnotes
Provenance
Anon. sale, Bonhams, London, 16 September 1971, lot 157, as a pair with lot 153.
With The Old Customs House, Hampshire (purchased from the above sale).
Private collection, UK (purchased from the above as a pair with lot 153 in 1972).
Literature
D. Brook-Hart, British 19th Century Marine Painting, Suffolk, 1974, p. 143, pl. 42.
Brett's characteristic incised inscription gives details of the subject, day and month, but for some reason omits the year. There is some evidence pointing to 1873 as the most likely date. That year Brett spent July in the Scilly Isles, and then, after a brief interlude to watch the yacht races at Cowes, he embarked on a leisurely progress from Penzance up the west coast of Cornwall, painting on the way, which ended at Bude early in November. It is very likely that he passed through St Ives, where he had spent a fruitful month the previous year, and he could well have been there on August 21. The prominent presence, in the left foreground, of a typical St Ives pilchard driver does suggest that the work may have been painted there.
We are grateful to Mr Charles Brett for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.