Ford Madox Brown Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Ford Madox Brown Art Value Price Guide

Jul. 25, 2024
Ford Madox Brown (British, 1821-1893), f
Est: £150 - £200
Ford Madox Brown (British, 1821-1893), for Morris & Co, an Arts & Crafts 'Argyll' ebonised beech corner armchair, ring turned spindle frame, drop-in rush seat, 71cm high, 58cm wide
Kinghams Auctioneers
Jul. 25, 2024
Attributed to Ford Madox Brown (British,
Est: £100 - £150
Attributed to Ford Madox Brown (British, 1821-1893), for Morris & Co, an Arts & Crafts ebonised beech salon chair, circa 1870, spindle frame with a cross-shaped splat, rounded rush seat, ring turned legs, 84cm high, 43cm wide. Note: the range of rush-seated ebonised chairs introduced by Morris & Co. from circa 1865 and known as 'Sussex' chairs, were enormously popular and emulated by many other firms. The published price of this chair was 10s.6d in the Morris & Co. catalogue of circa 1910. The design for this chair was attributed to Ford Madox Brown in 'The Furnisher', 1900-01, p 61-63. (See Parry 'William Morris', V&A Exhibition catalogue, 1996, plate J25). A chair of this design can be seen in the drawing room of Windleshaw House, East Sussex, the home of W.A.S Benson and in the drawing room of The Grange, Fulham, the home of Edward Burne-Jones, both illustrated in J. Cooper 'Victorian and Edwardian Furniture and Interiors', 1987, Fig 405 and 438. This design also features in the settle NT 1214044.
Kinghams Auctioneers
Mar. 22, 2023
Attributed to Ford Maddox Brown (1821-1893) British, 'The Deathbed of James I', oil on canvas, 29.25" x 34", (
Est: £4,000 - £6,000
Attributed to Ford Maddox Brown (1821-1893) British, 'The Deathbed of James I', oil on canvas, 29.25" x 34", (74.5 x 86.5cm).
John Nicholson's Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers
Jan. 26, 2023
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893); the "Argyll" ebonized corner armchair, 19th century, possibly for Liberty & Co, with cruciform lattice backs above a drop in rush worked seat, Supported by a spindle turned underframe. 41 cm wide x 41 cm deep x 71 cm...
Est: £200 - £300
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893); the "Argyll" ebonized corner armchair, 19th century, possibly for Liberty & Co, with cruciform lattice backs above a drop in rush worked seat, Supported by a spindle turned underframe. 41 cm wide x 41 cm deep x 71 cm overall height, 42 cm height to the seat. Private estate Signs of woodworm
Dawsons Auctioneers
Jan. 25, 2023
Attributed to Ford Maddox Brown (1821-1893) British, 'The Deathbed of James I', oil on canvas, 29.25" x 34" (7
Est: £4,000 - £6,000
Attributed to Ford Maddox Brown (1821-1893) British, 'The Deathbed of James I', oil on canvas, 29.25" x 34" (74.5 x 86.5cm).
John Nicholson's Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers
Oct. 12, 2022
FORD MADOX BROWN (1821-1893) (ATTRIBUTED DESIGNER) FOR MORRIS & CO. TWO ARTS AND CRAFTS ‘SUSSEX’ CORNER ARMCHAIRS, CIRCA 1875
Est: £300 - £500
FORD MADOX BROWN (1821-1893) (ATTRIBUTED DESIGNER) FOR MORRIS & CO. TWO ARTS AND CRAFTS ‘SUSSEX’ CORNER ARMCHAIRS, CIRCA 1875 ebonised wood with drop-in seat, later velvet upholstery (40.5cm wide, 70.5cm high, the other 41cm wide, 70cm high) Qty: (2)
Lyon & Turnbull
Jun. 28, 2022
Circle of Ford Madox Brown (British, 1821-1893) Portrait of Rachel Titherington, half length, wearing a white dress
Est: £500 - £700
Circle of Ford Madox Brown (British, 1821-1893) Portrait of Rachel Titherington, half length, wearing a white dress Oil on panel or board with arcaded top 60 x 44cm (23 5/8 x 17 5/16in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Bonhams
Jun. 28, 2022
FORD MADOX BROWN (1821-1893) (ATTRIBUTED DESIGNER) FOR MORRIS & CO. ARTS AND CRAFTS ‘SUSSEX’ ARMCHAIR, CIRCA 1875
Est: £300 - £500
FORD MADOX BROWN (1821-1893) (ATTRIBUTED DESIGNER) FOR MORRIS & CO. ARTS AND CRAFTS ‘SUSSEX’ ARMCHAIR, CIRCA 1875 ebonised beech, with rush seat (59cm wide 90cm high 54.5cm deep) Note: Morris & Co.’s celebrated Sussex chair was originally designed around 1860 and sold in large numbers from the late 1860s. The form of this immensely popular piece takes its inspiration from a late-Georgian armchair discovered in Sussex, which is particularly visible in the turned frame and rush seat. The artist, Ford Madox Brown, was one of the original partners in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., the firm founded by William Morris and his friends in 1861. Although not known as a furniture designer, it is thought he suggested this version of the Sussex range, which was also sold as a side chair.
Lyon & Turnbull
Dec. 02, 2021
BROWN FORD MADOX: (1821-1893)
Est: €150 - €200
BROWN FORD MADOX: (1821-1893) British painter of moral and historical subjects. A.L.S., F Madox Brown, one page, 8vo, Fitzroy Square [London], 14th March 1874, to [John] Linnell. Brown writes, in full, 'Though we have not yet had the pleasure of an introduction to your wife, we have made free to include her in the invitation, in the event of her being in Town & caring to accompany you'. With blank integral leaf. Together with three individual printed 8vo leaflets issued by Manchester Town Hall and relating to panels number 10 (John Kay, Inventor of the Fly Shuttle), 11 (The Opening of the Bridgewater Canal) and 12 (Dalton Collecting Marsh-Fire Gas) of the Mural Paintings in the Great Hall by Brown. Some light age wear to the leaflets, G to VG, 4 John Linnell (1792-1882) English engraver and portrait and landscape painter. Brown had spent the latter years of his life painting the twelve works known as The Manchester Murals, depicting Mancunian history, for Manchester Town Hall.
International Autograph Auctions Europe, S.L.
Oct. 20, 2021
FORD MADOX BROWN (1821-1893) FOR DELLA ROBBIA POTTERY, BIRKENHEAD 'THE YOUNG MILTON', CIRCA 1895
Est: £400 - £600
FORD MADOX BROWN (1821-1893) FOR DELLA ROBBIA POTTERY, BIRKENHEAD 'THE YOUNG MILTON', CIRCA 1895 glazed terracotta, incised inscription to base FMB/ THE YOUNG MILTON (70.5cm x 42.5cm) Footnote: Literature: Hyland, P., The Della Robbia Pottery Birkenhead 1894-1906, ACC, 2014, p.241, Appendix A; and p.246 Appendix C. Note: This panel is listed in The Della Robbia 1896 catalogue as item 503, one of four plaques after designs by Ford Madox Brown. From 1895 the pottery produced several more pieces after Brown's cartoons, including Gideon; Elkana and the Dores; The Blessing of Isaac, Mary Magdalene; Peda, King of Kent and King Edward the First. A 'Milton' panel was also listed as lot 61 in the catalogue of the Della Robbia Pottery Closing sale in 1906.
Lyon & Turnbull
Sep. 23, 2021
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893): Standing Nude Seen from Behind
Est: $2,000 - $4,000
Black chalk on paper, inscribed 'Ford M. Brown to Dante G. Rossetti' lower right. 17 1/4 x 7 3/4 in. (sheet), 28 1/2 x 17 3/4 in. (frame). Property from the Estate of John Richardson
STAIR
Jul. 15, 2021
FORD MADOX BROWN (BRITISH 1821-1893) - Moses and the Brazen Serpent
Est: £15,000 - £25,000
FORD MADOX BROWN (BRITISH 1821-1893) Moses and the Brazen Serpent black chalk on buff paper 27 x 19 7/8 in. (68.6 x 50.5 cm.)
Christie's
Sep. 12, 2019
Ford Madox Brown. Autograph Letter Signed.
Est: $120 - $220
[Autograph] Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893). British painter. Autograph Letter Signed, 8vo 1p, Aug. 19, 1872, 37 Fitzroy St. W. , to Alfred Hake (1849-1916), English social thinker and author, inquiring whether or not Hakes father would return home by the 3rd. We should be happy to see you all but for the fact that as people hope to be seated at a breakfast our places are limited. Condition Sight condition very good, uneven register of ink to few words and letters, not examined out of frame.
Quinn's Auction Galleries
Jul. 24, 2018
Manner of Ford Maddox Brown (British 1821-1893)/St John the Baptist/inscribed in pencil to sheet at top/ink and body colour, 26cm x 15cm
Est: £120 - £150
Manner of Ford Maddox Brown (British 1821-1893)/St John the Baptist/inscribed in pencil to sheet at top/ink and body colour, 26cm x 15cm
Chorley's
Jul. 12, 2018
FORD MADOX BROWN | Elijah and the Widow
Est: £60,000 - £80,000
watercolour, heighted with bodycolour and gum Arabic
Sotheby's
Nov. 12, 2017
After Ford Madox Brown (English, 1821-1893) The Last of England
Est: $200 - $400
lithograph, framed
Shapiro Auctioneers
Nov. 07, 2017
Ford Madox Brown for Morris & Co, an ebonised and rush seat side chair, hei
Est: £60 - £80
Ford Madox Brown for Morris & Co, an ebonised and rush seat side chair, height 84cm.
Gildings Auctioneers
Aug. 16, 2017
FORD MADOX BROWN (English, 1821-1893) THE HOLY FAMILY WITH JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Oil on canvas laid down on Masonite. Housed in a carved giltwood 19th century frame with gilt liner retaining an old title label "Holy Family". Signed and dated with monogram upper right (under the frame liner) "FMB 64" SIZE: 51-1/2" x 34-1/2". Overall 64" x 46-1/2" PROVENANCE: Ex-collection Henry Audesse, Wenham, Massachusetts CONDITION: Scattered restoration throughout including touch up in three central figures, otherwise good 52099-27
James D. Julia
Feb. 09, 2017
FORD MADOX BROWN (English, 1821-1893) THE HOLY FAMILY WITH JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Est: $7,000 - $10,000
Oil on canvas laid down on Masonite. Housed in a carved giltwood 19th century frame with gilt liner retaining an old title label "Holy Family". Signed and dated with monogram upper right (under the frame liner) "FMB 64" SIZE: 51-1/2" x 34-1/2". Overall 64" x 46-1/2" PROVENANCE: Ex-collection Henry Audesse, Wenham, Massachusetts CONDITION: Scattered restoration throughout including touch up in three central figures, otherwise good 51350-1
James D. Julia
May. 25, 2016
Ford Madox Brown (British, 1821-1893) Study of Oliver Madox
Est: £600 - £800
Ford Madox Brown (British, 1821-1893) Study of Oliver Madox Brown
Bonhams
Dec. 03, 2015
After Ford Maddox Brown (British, 1821-1893) Jesus Washing Peter'
Est: £200 - £300
After Ford Maddox Brown (British, 1821-1893) Jesus Washing Peter's Feet, watercolour, late 19th Century after the original painted in 1852, 38cm x 61cm
Mallams
Feb. 25, 2015
Circle of Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) British. Portrait of a Father and Daughter, the Father dressed in a black coat, a
Est: £150 - £250
Circle of Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) British. Portrait of a Father and Daughter, the Father dressed in a black coat, a white shirt and a black cravat, the Daughter dressed in black with a white frilled collar, Watercolour, Oval, 3.75" x 3".
John Nicholson's Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers
Jul. 09, 2014
Circle of Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) British
Est: £500 - £800
Circle of Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) British. Portrait of a Father and Daughter, the Father dressed in a black coat, a white shirt and a black cravat, the Daughter dressed in black with a white frilled collar, Watercolour on Ivory, Oval, 3.75" x 3".
John Nicholson's Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers
Jun. 21, 2014
Lucy Madox Brown
Est: CHF4,000 - CHF6,000
Brown, Ford Madox, (1821-1893) Lucy Madox Brown unten links signiert und datiert «F MADOX BROWN 1861»
Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer
May. 30, 2013
FORD MADOX BROWN (BRITISH 1821-1893) QUEEN ELEANOR, STUDY FOR STAINED GLASS, WILLIAM MORRIS & CO. 122cm x 41cm (48in x 16in)
Est: £3,000 - £5,000
FORD MADOX BROWN (BRITISH 1821-1893) QUEEN ELEANOR, STUDY FOR STAINED GLASS, WILLIAM MORRIS & CO. Signed with monogram and dated '70, inscribed, ink and wash 122cm x 41cm (48in x 16in)
Lyon & Turnbull
Mar. 19, 2013
BROWN (FORD MADOX)
Est: £600 - £800
Collection of six autograph letters and cards concerning the memorial fountain to Dante Gabriel Rossetti at Cheyne Walk, including one to "Dear John P." ("...Today I think I have done about as much as I can to the Rossetti Model, & on the whole am well satisfied with it. As soon as cast in plaster which will take a week or more to pack & send one cast of it to Paris & another I shall try to exhibit here for a few days & then send it on to you in London with the small model... I have given the wild-duck tap of the fountain out to a Manchester artist to model in large. He will not charge much I dare say & I really have not time to do that – As it is I am terribly behind with my Town Hall work. But I have given him a small one I modeled of it to go by..."); four to Buxton Forman, treasurer of the memorial committee, discussing subscriptions, as well as payments owing, or not owing, to their French agent and foundry ("...he was 100fs out of pocket for carriage of the Models & getting the three 'plaques' or mane [?sic for name] and dates modeled in Paris as I told him to do..."); and one to Mr Benson, sending him a circular ("...The Drinking-Fountain with my bronze Alto-relief are now complete & very shortly will be erected on the embankment in front of the Poet-Artist's house..."), 15 pages, light dust-staining, occasional traces of mounting, 8vo, 1885-7
Bonhams
Jul. 11, 2012
Attributed Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) 'St. John
Est: £2,000 - £3,000
Attributed Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) 'St. John the Baptist' Pen and ink, heightened in body colour Titled upper centre, inscribed to detached backing board 'Original cartoon by Ford Madox Brown given to Rev. Ivor Daniel by John Robinson Esq. Conway, 1924'. 14.5 x 26.5cm Discovered by the vendor in the midst of a pile of Powell's glass catalogues
Knowle Auction Rooms
Jun. 13, 2012
Attributed Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) 'St. John
Est: £2,000 - £3,000
Attributed Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) 'St. John the Baptist' Pen and ink, heightened in body colour Titled upper centre, inscribed to detached backing board 'Original cartoon by Ford Madox Brown given to Rev. Ivor Daniel by John Robinson Esq. Conway, 1924'. 14.5 x 26.5cm Discovered by the vendor in the midst of a pile of Powell's glass catalogues
Knowle Auction Rooms
Apr. 18, 2012
FORD MADDOX BROWN (1821-1893) FOR MORRIS & COMPANY EBONISED 'SUSSEX' ARMCHAIR, CIRCA 1880
Est: £300 - £500
FORD MADDOX BROWN (1821-1893) FOR MORRIS & COMPANY EBONISED 'SUSSEX' ARMCHAIR, CIRCA 1880 with cruciform spindle back and open arms raised above rush seat on turned legs linked by stretchers
Lyon & Turnbull
Dec. 15, 2010
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893), after Rembrandt
Est: £3,000 - £5,000
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893), after Rembrandt The Angel departing from the Family of Tobias indistinctly inscribed by 'By Madox Brown Copy of Rembrandt's Sacrifice of ... Done towards 1844' by William Michael Rossetti (on a label attached to the reverse) oil on canvas 24 x 21½ in. (61 x 54.6 cm.)
Christie's
Dec. 15, 2010
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)
Est: £10,000 - £15,000
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) Portrait of Elizabeth Clara Bromley oil on panel, in a painted oval 9 x 6¾ in. (22.8 x 17.1 cm.)
Christie's
Dec. 15, 2010
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)
Est: £20,000 - £30,000
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) Self Portrait, bust-length, in a brown coat inscribed by William Michael Rossetti 'By Ford Madox Brown/Himself/c.1845/Given by him to Lucy +/me c.1880' (on a label on the reverse) oil on board 8 x 6 in. (20.3 x 15.2 cm.)
Christie's
Nov. 17, 2010
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)
Est: £4,000 - £6,000
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) Portrait of Miss Louisa Jones, bust-length, holding a posy of flowers signed with a monogram and dated '1862' (lower left) coloured chalks and watercolour 21½ x 17½ in. (54.7 x 44.5 cm.)
Christie's
Sep. 01, 2010
Ford Madox Brown oil painting on canvas depicting
Est: $35,000 - $50,000
Ford Madox Brown oil painting on canvas depicting a portrait of the Bromley children. Canvas: 50"H x 38"W; Frame: 58"H x 48"W. Signed and dated lower right, "F. M. Brown 1843 (?)". Ford Madox Brown (British, 1821-1893). This early work shows the three eldest children of the artist's cousin and brother-in-law, Augustus Frederick Bromley. Ford Madox Brown's first wife was Augustus Frederick Bromley's sister Elizabeth. Brown painted a number of portraits of his Bromley family. Provenance: Christie's London 6/14/00.
Dallas Auction Gallery
Jun. 16, 2010
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)
Est: £8,000 - £12,000
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) Portrait of Miss Louisa Jones, bust-length, holding a posy of flowers signed with monogram and dated '1862' (lower left) coloured chalks and watercolour, watermark 'J WHATMAN', on paper 21½ x 17½ in. (54.7 x 44.5 cm.)
Christie's
Mar. 22, 2006
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)
Est: £600 - £800
The expulsion from Eden with inscription '.. for Glass.. Expulsion from Eden....Ford Madox Brown' (on the frame) pencil and grey wash, on buff paper, in orginal William Morris frame 38 1/2 x 20 1/4 in. (97.8 x 51.4 cm.)
Christie's
Jun. 07, 2005
f - FORD MADOX BROWN 1821-1893 THE BROMLEY CHILDREN
Est: £30,000 - £50,000
signed and indistinctly dated l.r.: F M Brown. 184* oil on canvas PROVENANCE Probably Helen Bromley, the sitters' mother; Probably given by Helen Bromley to the artist, and thence by descent via his daughter Lucy and her husband, William Michael Rossetti EXHIBITED London, Grafton Galleries, Exhibition of the Works of Ford Madox Brown, 1897, no. 87 LITERATURE AND REFERENCES MS letter from the artist to his daughter Lucy Rossetti, after 1886 (Angeli papers, special collections, University of British Columbia, Vancouver); F. M. Hueffer, Ford Madox Brown: A Record of his Life and Work, 1896, pp. 433, 434; W. D. Paden, The Ancestry and Families of Ford Madox Brown, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, vol. 50, no. 1, autumn 1967, pp. 130-131 CATALOGUE NOTE Several of Brown's earliest works are portraits of his relatives the Bromleys, who lived at Meopham in Kent. Ford Madox Hueffer, the artist's grandson described Brown's visit to the Bromley's in 1840 'Here he painted portraits of all his relations there resident. They are mostly quaint little medallions.' Among the portraits was one of Elizabeth, Brown's cousin with whom he fell madly in love and married later that same year (sadly she died only six years later). The present picture portrays the three eldest children of Brown's cousin and brother-in-law, Augustus Frederick Bromley (1815-1843) and his wife Helen (née Weir). Augustus and Helen had married in Paris in 1840 at a time when Brown was resident in the French capital, studying the Old Masters at the Louvre. Brown had painted both Helen and Augustus during the stay in Meopham in 1840 and other portraits of members of the Bromley family are known to have been painted in 1844, including the lavish portrait of the older generation of Bromleys now at Manchester City Art Gallery. The sitters in the present portrait are as follows; the little girl in the centre dressed in white is the oldest child Helen Bromley with her brother Augustus to her right holding a hoop and stick and her sister Louisa seated to her left. Lamentably, none of the children lived beyond their teenage years, the two younger children dying in 1845 and 1846 and Helen surviving only until 1855 when she died aged seventeen. There has been much confusion regarding when this portrait was painted and the only certainty is that it was in the early 1840s before Augustus junior's death in 1845. The painting is dated but the last digit has proved difficult to decipher. When it was exhibited in Brown's memorial exhibition in 1897 it was stated that it was painted in 1841 and Hueffer lists it as being painted in 1840, but mentions it again as being painted in 1845. Although 1844 is the most likely date for the painting, it is strange that Brown did not include a fourth child, Elizabeth Clara who was born in 1843. The portrait was presumably painted for Helen Bromley, the children's mother who ran a school in Greenwich where Brown's daughter Lucy was educated. At a later date the portrait returned to the artist's possession and was given to Lucy who after her death in 1894, a year after her father, bequeathed the picture to her husband William Michael Rossetti, the brother of the artist Dante Gabriel and of the poet Christina.
Sotheby's
Nov. 24, 2004
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)
Est: £200,000 - £300,000
The Last of England signed and dated 'Brown 55' (lower right, on the edge of the boat) oil on panel, painted oval 7 3/4 x 6 7/8 in. (19.7 x 17.5 cm.)
Christie's
Dec. 11, 2003
FORD MADOX BROWN
Est: $60,000 - $80,000
SIGNED AND DATED (MAKER'S MARKS) signed with monogram, inscribed and dated 64 (lower left)
Sotheby's
Feb. 19, 2003
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)
Est: $23,850 - $31,800
The Ascension oil on canvas 361/2 x 171/2 in. (92.8 x 44.5 cm.) PROVENANCE Bought from the artist by Henry Boddington, and still in his possession in 1911. LITERATURE F.M. Hueffer, Ford Madox Brown: A Record of his Life and Work, London, 1896, pp. 434 (as 'Sketch for Ascension competition'). Teresa Newman and Ray Watkinson, Ford Madox Brown and the Pre-Raphaelite Circle, London, 1991, pp. 19, 22-3, pl. 73. Kenneth Bendiner, The Art of Ford Madox Brown, Pennsylvania, 1998, pp. 11, 103, 109, 117, pl. 9. EXHIBITION Manchester, City Art Gallery, Autumn Exhibition, 1911. London, Maas Gallery, Pre-Raphaelitism, 1970, no. 5. Brighton, Brighton Art Gallery, Heaven, Death and the Victorians, 1970. Virtue Rewarded, 1988-90, no. 35. A Brush with the Millenium, 2000, no. 2. NOTES This highly-finished sketch dates from 1844, and was submitted by Brown to a competition for an altarpiece of this subject in St James's Church, Bermondsey. The contest was won by John Wood (1801-1870), an artist now largely forgotten but well-known in his day for his portraits and historical subjects. Wood's altarpiece remains in the church to this day. The sketch was painted in 1844 when Brown was living with his Bromley in-laws at Meopham in Kent. Following his marriage in 1841, he and his wife had settled in Paris, where his first major historical work, The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots, was exhibited at the Salon the following year; but he had recently returned to England to prepare submissions for the competitions which were being held to find artists capable of decorating the new Palace of Westminster. He was to contribute three cartoons in all, Adam and Eve, The Body of Harold brought before William the Conqueror, and The Spirit of Justice. Brown's works at this early period betray a number of influences, including Rembrandt, Hogarth, Fuseli and Delacroix. All tended to be interpreted in the light of his own strong predilection for quirkiness and eccentricity, values which distinguished his work till the end. In the Ascension he evolves a three-tier composition which evidently owes much to Baroque prototypes, but the wildly exaggerated poses of the angels to either side of Christ, and the figures of the Virgin and the disciples on the ground, are unmistakably Fuselian. Similarly wilful, some might say ludicrous exaggerations are found in Mary Queen of Scots, William the Conqueror, The Spirit of Justice, and other works of this period. It is perhaps not surprising that Brown did not win the Bermondsey competition, or that the Ascension was rejected when he submitted it to the British Institution in 1845. A group of eight studies for the Ascension is in the Birmingham Art Gallery. One is illustrated in Hueffer, op. cit., following p. 447, and this and another are reproduced in Newman and Watkinson, op. cit., pls. 22-3. The Ascension was one of a number of early works that were bought towards the end of Brown's life by his Manchester patron, Henry Boddington. Brown encountered Boddington when he was living in Manchester in the 1880s, painting murals in the Town Hall, and he executed a group portrait of the Boddington fmaily shortly before he returned to London in 1887.
Christie's
Feb. 19, 2003
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)
Est: $79,500 - $111,300
Tell's Son signed with monogram and dated '-80' (upper right) oil on canvas 161/4 x 143/4 in. (41.2 x 37.5 cm.) PROVENANCE Bought from the artist by Henry Boddington, and still in his possession in 1911. with The Stone Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne. with Peter Nahum, London, from whom acquired by the present owner. LITERATURE F.M. Hueffer, Ford Madox Brown: A Record of his Life and Work, London, 1896, pp. 384, 442 (incorrectly dated 1878 and 1879). K. Bendiner, The Art of Ford Madox Brown, Pennsylvania, 1998, pp. 98, 121 (the original version). EXHIBITION London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Spring Exhibition, 1901, no. 344. Manchester, City Art Gallery, Autumn Exhibition, 1911. The Age of Innocence, 1989. Kindred Spirits, 1993, no. 8. All For Love, 1994, no. 38. La Era Victoriana, 1997, no. 65. NOTES William Tell was the legendary Swiss patriot who is said to have been compelled by the Austrian governor Gessler to shoot an arrow through an apple balanced on his son's head. The story was the subject of a play by Schiller (1802) and an opera by Rossini (1829). In Brown's painting, the boy proudly displays the apple, cut in half to reveal the mark left by the perfectly-aimed arrow, while the arrow itself can be seen embedded in the tree just above his head. Suspended on a ribbon around his neck is a small carving of a bear, the civic emblem of Berne. The painting is a replica, dating from 1880, of a picture that Brown had executed in January 1877 (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge). The model was the artist's grandson, Ford Madox Hueffer, who wrote Brown's posthumous biography and later achieved fame as the novelist Ford Madox Ford. Brown's younger daughter, Catherine, had married the musicologist Franz Hueffer in 1872. Young Ford was born the following year, making him three when the picture was painted. The original version of Tell's Son belonged to Catherine when F.M. Hueffer published his monograph in 1896, and had probably been given to her by her father. The later version was one of the works acquired by Brown's patron Henry Boddington, who also owned lot 301. In composition and conception, Tell's Son echoes The English Boy (Manchester City Art Gallery), Brown's portrait of his five-year-old son Oliver painted in 1860. Both works show the sitter half-length and full-face, while the way the hands are treated, clasping toys in The English Boy, the apple-halves in Tell's Son, is very similar. Oliver had been a precocious boy of whom Brown was intensely proud, and his premature death in 1874 was a devastating blow to his father. The conscious reference to The English Boy in Tell's Son three years later is therefore all the more poignant. There is a thematic parallel, too, in that an element of patriotism and nationalism is common to both images. The English Boy is only one of several pictures in which Brown harps on the idea of Englishness; others are the better-known English Autumn Afternoon and Last of England (both 1852-5; Birmingham), not to mention the numerous works he based on that most English of plays, King Lear. Why he suddenly switched to a Swiss national legend is unclear. Perhaps he was vaguely harking back to his formative stay in Basel, studying Holbein, in 1845. There were also the theatrical precedents mentioned above; and in any case Brown was not the only Victorian painter to treat this subject. A version by William Shakespeare Burton belonged to the Pre-Raphaelites' patron William Graham (his sale, Christie's, 2 April 1886, lot 42). The English Boy was bought by the Leeds stockbroker T.E. Plint, and Brown painted him a companion-piece, The Irish Girl (private collection), again adopting the half-length format. Despite the glaring differences of subject and mood, there is a relationship between Brown's half-length studies of children and the half-length female figures, posed for by a series of glamorous models, that his friend D.G. Rossetti painted almost exclusively during his later career. It is probably no accident that the first of Rossetti's pictures in this style, Bocca Baciata (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), was painted in 1859, while Brown's English Boy and Irish Girl followed a year later.
Christie's
Nov. 26, 2002
Andrew McCallum (1821-1902)
Est: $12,400 - $18,600
Sunset over a Forest signed and dated 'A. McCallum. 1890' (lower right) oil on canvas 361/2 x 531/2 in. (93.5 x 139 cm.) NOTES MacCallum's reputation rests mainly upon his woodland subjects, and he endeavoured to exemplify in his paintings the compatibility of breadth and detail, as shown in the present work. He is particularly noted for his fidelity to nature in his representation of trees and his meticulous attention to intricate branching and foliage detail. His close observation shows the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites, notably the early landscapes of William Holman Hunt and Ford Madox Brown, and it was from the late 1850s that he began to devote himself seriously to landscape. MacCallum was born in Nottingham and many of his woodland views were taken from the local area where he grew up, for example, In Sherwood Forest - Winter Evening after Rain (1881; Victoria and Albert Museum, London).
Christie's
Oct. 06, 2001
A Della Robbia framed plaque of Alfred the Great
Est: $2,500 - $3,500
A Della Robbia framed plaque of Alfred the Great 1900 in two sections, modeled and decorated by Harold Steward Rathbone, after a design by Ford Madox Brown, titled ALFRED YE GREATE, signed on the front with the artist's monogram and date 1900, (minor surface restoration and re-touching), incised on the back 986C and dated 9/1900. height 27in. (68.6cm.) by width 16 1/2 in. (42cm.) This panel is one of a series of similar plaques made by Della Robbia which appeared in their 1900 catalogue. It exists in at least two versions, one of which is in the Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead, England and is illustrated in Della Robbia Pottery Birkenhead 1894-1906. An Interim Report, fig. 30. Exhibited: `The Birkenhead Della Robbia Pottery. 1893-1906', Jeremy Cooper Ltd., September 30-October 18, 1980, no. 72 Literature: Malcolm Haslam, English Art Pottery 1865-1915, Woodbridge, Antique Collector's Club, 1975, p. 143, fig. 75. Established in 1893 by Harold Rathbone in Birkenhead, Liverpool the Della Robbia pottery was one of the few "true" Arts and Crafts potteries, founded with the intention of using local clay and local labor to create functional and decorative wares. Conrad Dressler, Carlo Manzoni and later Cassandia Annie Walker were three of the key designers and decorators. Unfortunately it proved difficult to make the pottery a success and it closed in 1906.
Sotheby's