American & European Art

Provenance:

Wilson Barrett Collection, England

Thence by descent

Sold: Bonhams, Knightsbridge, March 20, 2018, Lot 79

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Exhibited:

Leeds, England, Leeds City Art Galleries, Atkinson Grimshaw 1836-1893, October 13 - November 10, 1979, no. 67 (also travelled to Southampton Art Gallery, November 24 - December 29, 1979 and Liverpool Walker Art Gallery, January 12 - February 9, 1980)

Harrogate, England, The Mercer Art Gallery, Atkinson Grimshaw, Painter of Moonlight, April 16 - September 4, 2011 (also travelled to London, Guildhall Art Gallery, September 19, 2011 - January 15, 2012)

Lot note:

The present lot depicts a scene from Act II of Jane Shore. Written by W.G. Wills, the play was produced at the Leeds Amphitheatre in 1875 and 1876. The parts of Henry Shore and his errant wife Jane were played by Wilson Barrett and his wife Caroline Heath. The actress, as Jane Shore, is depicted in the painting on her return home after her affair with King Edward IV, only to find that her own child has perished in her absence. 

The Barretts were close friends of the Grimshaws, who introduced them to many other actors. The artist and his wife frequently entertained actors at their home in Leeds, Knostrop Hall. Around the mid-1870s, Grimshaw produced aesthetic interiors featuring fashionable women at home, similar to those of artists James Tissot and Lawrence Alma-Tadema. His work also appeared in London exhibitions at the Agnew's Bond Street gallery, which further enhanced his reputation. In 1878 Barrett became the actor manager of the newly opened Grand Theatre in Leeds.

In a 1917 letter to her brother-in-law, the artist's daughter Enid stated that the room set from the play had been recreated in the Barretts' own home in Beech Grove, Leeds. However, it is not clear why Grimshaw painted it, with three of his own children recently dead from diphtheria. Perhaps the artist's new interest in depicting richly appointed and elegantly furnished rooms, as well as the commission from Barrett, was an attraction. Barrett had the painting hung at the Grand Theatre for many years.

Grimshaw favored experimenting with different light sources in both landscapes and interiors. Here, Jane Shore is lit by moonlight streaming through the stained glass windows, while the firelight outlines the figure of her husband and the maid. As in other paintings by the artist, the central figure is over-life size; perhaps to emphasize her importance in the scene. The result is a mysterious scene within an interior redolent of comfort and home, very much as the Grimshaws themselves tried to create in their manorial setting at Knostrop.