15th Jul, 2023 11:00 GMT/BST
British, European & Sporting Art
1126
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)
Study for The Spirit of Justice" - An Abstract representation of Justice (1845)
Signed and dated 1843, pencil and watercolour, 80.5cm by 47cm with arched top corners
Spirit of Justice was intended as a subject for entry to the third public exhibition of works entered to the competition to award commissions for the decoration of the newly built Palace of Westminster. On that occasion, in 1845, entries were intended to serve as ‘personifications of abstract representations of Religion, Justice and the spirit of Chivalry’. Brown’s full-scale cartoon, made in black chalk and which measured about 192 x 111 inches (destroyed), was announced in the summer of 1844 and displayed in Westminster Hall a year later. On that occasion, it was accompanied with a description of what was represented, written by Brown himself, and printed in the exhibition catalogue:
The five figures at the top are personifications of Justice, with, on her right, Mercy and Erudition, and on her left, Truth and Wisdom.
The two groups in the foreground are indicative of power and weakness. An unbefriended Widow is seen to appeal to Justice against the oppression of a perverse and powerful Baron, who is assisted by a hired adviser, and supported by the wealth of his father, although not countenanced by his approbation. The Widow is attended by her helpless parents.
The throne of Justice is surrounded by an allegorical representation of the House of Lords, consisting of Lords Spiritual, Temporal, and Barons armed for the maintenance of Justice.
Spirit of Justice was not a prize-winner at the 1845 competition, although it was commended by fellow contributor Benjamin Robert Haydon and admired by both William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The theme represented – one of conflict between the rich and powerful, and folk without privilege who were subject to cruelty and injustice – was close to Brown’s heart, and as one whose sympathies were with the dispossessed.
The present drawing is one of two watercolour sketches made by Brown at the time in early 1845 when he was working on the full-scale cartoon (the other sketch entered the collection of Manchester City Art Gallery in 1925 (1925.94)). Broadly equivalent to the full-scale cartoon although with minor variations of stance and positioning of the figures, the two sketches were intended to demonstrate the artist’s intentions for the colouring of the prospective fresco. The present sketch was in fact exhibited at Westminster with the black chalk cartoon and a specimen of work in fresco showing the head of the Lord Temporal.
Provenance: Sold to Henry Boddington, 1889; his executors; offered for sale by private treaty for £84 in 1925; Canon Smythe; anonymous sale, Christie’s, 2 March 1971 (lot 70); Stone Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, from where purchased. From the Estate of the late Ian Stephenson of Laithes, Penrith, Cumbria.
Exhibited: London, Works of Art sent in pursuant of the notices issued by Her Majesty’s Commissioners on the Fine Arts for exhibition in Westminster Hall, (the third Westminster Hall Competition), 1845 (number 99); London, Grafton Galleries, 1897, Exhibition of the Works of Ford Madox Brown, (number 10); London, Leicester Galleries, 1909, Collected Works of Ford Madox Brown, (number 26); Manchester City Art Gallery, 1911, Loan Exhibition of Works by Ford Madox Brown and the Pre-Raphaelites, (number 55); Newcastle upon Tyne, Stone Gallery, and London, Duke Street, St James’s, 1971, Some Pre-Raphaelite Works, (number 17)
Literature: Mary Bennett, Ford Madox Brown – A Catalogue Raisonné, two volumes, New Haven and London, 2010, I, catalogue number A31.3, p. 39
Sold for £7,000
Estimated at £3,000 - £5,000
In a fairly poor state of preservation. Significant staining across the sheet with pronounced reduction and bleaching of colour. There would look to have been some possible attempted restoration in patches towards the upper section and the arched top (see images) where more pronounced pattern of staining look to have had disguising pigment or materials added which now have a milky and chalky quality with some further possible overpainting within background. Essentially to mostly horizontal fine lines or creases just below the upper apex. There are a couple of further slightly less visible creases to the sheet within the background behind the standing female figure on the left at her right shoulder. Odd further minor crease to the drapery of justice, small hole just below ear of justice, odd sporadic foxing spot mostly to the upper section, pinhole to lower right-hand corner. Essentially horizontal tear to sheet approx 10cm from lower right corner and 1cm in length. Minor horizontal surface scuff to lower section of the skirts worn by animated female figure in lower right-hand corner and approx 2-3cm in length. Odd further minor imperfection to surface elsewhere. Some deteriation to parts of paint work e.g. the back thigh of the standing knight. Slight cockling to sheet, pinhole towards lower left-hand corner etc. Not examined out of the frame, AF. For more information please contact the department.
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Auction: British, European & Sporting Art, 15th Jul, 2023
The British, European and Sporting Art Sale at Tennants Auctioneers will see a fine equestrian portrait of ‘Lady Caroline Held by a Groom, Newmarket’ attributed to Thomas Spencer (1700-1763) go under the hammer. It will be joined by notable lots from the Estate of Martin & Felicity Mackintosh of Harrogate, including a rich and plentiful still life of game, fruit and flowers by Hendrik Reekers (1815-1854), and further works by the likes of Ford Madox Brown and William Holman Hunt from the Estate of the late Ian Stephenson of Laithes, Penrith, Cumbria. Other notable lots include Montague Dawson's “HMS Amethyst running the Yangtse Gauntlet, 30th July 1949”.
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