John Lavery

Description: Sir John Lavery, R.A., R.H.A., R.S.A. (Belfast 1856 - County Kilkenny 1941) Portrait of Captain J. G. Saunders O.B.E, R.D., R.N.R. oil on canvas, inscribed lower right 7 1/2 x 4 1/2in. (19 x 11.5cm.) * Inscribed verso "Study Sketch for the Portrait of J.G. Saunders by Sir John Lavery"

Sir John Lavery (1856-1941) Description: STEAMERS IN THE HARBOUR, ST. JEAN DE LUZ signed lower left Notes: With the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 the Laverys' annual winter holidays in Tangier ceased and following the sinking of the Lusitania, the fear of U-boat attack for those risking the high seas was intense. By 1917 however, with relative safety restored to supply routes across the English Channel, and anticipating his forthcoming commission as an Official War Artist, John and Hazel Lavery embarked upon a spring holiday, travelling first to Paris, then south to the Duke of Westminster's shooting lodge at Mimizan on the Atlantic coast, before finally repairing to the Grand Hotel de l'Angleterre at St Jean de Luz.(footnote 1) It was April and the town that, along with neighbouring Biarritz, had been a fashionable watering hole during the pre-war years was now merely a safe haven for ships travelling in convoy through the dangerous waters of the Bay of Biscay. During their stay, the spacious natural harbour was filled with Norwegian cargo vessels, their bows painted with the bold flags of neutrality.(footnote 2) While staying at St Jean de Luz, Lavery painted the famous Maison Louis XIV in the central square and, being close to the border, crossed into Spain to portray the Good Friday celebrations at Fuenterrabia.(footnote 3) However, his main task during the holiday was a suite of six pictures, all painted from the same location looking south over the bay. Each contains the strip of distant headland with its ancient tower. Throughout the series, the boats change position and the artist, echoing Cézanne on the motif at Mont St Victoire, only needed to move his line of sight to create a new composition. The two most typical examples The Harbour, St Jean de Luz, Early Morning, (Sheffield City Art Galleries), and Twilight, St Jean de Luz, (Private Collection), indicate the painter's fascination with changing light effects.(footnote 4) Working throughout the day, Lavery was obliged to change his palette - the muted rosy hues of A Still Morning, the smallest picture in the sequence, giving way to the sharper ceruleans of the côté de l'atlantique in the present example. Both pictures show a marker buoy in the middle distance, denoting the area of safe anchorage. However, perhaps the closest comparison is provided by Norwegian Cargo Boats, a work that could almost act as a prelude to Steamers in Harbour since it suggests that the ships pulling out into the deep channel are setting off along the coast. Surveying this important interlude, it is impossible not to feel the implicit sense of liberation. Having been confined in London since his last visit to Tangier at the beginning of 1914, the painter hoped to 'wash the studio light from his eyes'. Gazing on the majestic sweep of the bay at St Jean de Luz, he clearly recalled the early work of Whistler who on one occasion, painted on the shore at Biarritz. But it was the magical softness and fluidity of Whistler's Valparaiso seascapes of 1867 that haunted him here, as the still morning turned to a bright, blustery midday and the coasters steamed off into hostile waters. Prof. Kenneth McConkey Northumberland, February, 2011 1. Kenneth McConkey, John Lavery, A Painter and his World, 2010, (Edinburgh, Atletier Books), pp. 133-6. 2. See for instance, Norwegian Cargo Boats, sold Sotheby's 6 March 2008. 3. The Procession, Fuentarrabia, 1917 is in the Merrion Hotel Collection, Dublin. Two other works are known from this part of the holiday: Jaixquibel, A Mountain in Spain, was sold Dreweatt-Neate, 18 September 2002; The Basque Country, formerly in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, is now in a private collection. 4. McConkey 2010, figs 156 and 157. In one further instance, The Sands, (Private Collection) the headland almost disappears as the painter observes children playing on the beach in the foreground. The tide has retreated and all the ships are gone in this case. All three pictures, like the present example, painted on Lavery's preferred 25 x 30 inch canvases or canvasboards. Provenance: Provenance: Adam's, Dublin, 1989, lot 30 Sotheby's Irish Sale, May 2003, lot 87; Private collection, Dublin 62 by 75cm., 24.2 5 by 29.5in. Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy, 1920, no 187 (?) oil on canvas

SIR JOHN LAVERY RA RSA RHA (1856 - 1941) IN MY STUDIO oil on board, signed & dated 1886 30cm x 25cm provenance: The vendor, a direct family descendant of the artist, purchased this work a number of years ago. It had been earlier auctioned by Messrs J & R Edmiston, Glasgow, lot 55, 25th May 1972, from the collection of Mr James Meldrum, who owned several works by Lavery, four of which were sold at the same auction.

Sir John Lavery, R.A., R.S.A., R.H.A. (1856-1941) Marjorie signed 'J Lavery' (upper right); inscribed 'TO/MARJORIE/WITH MANY COMPLIMENTS/FROM THE PAINTER' (on the reverse) oil on canvas board 13¾ x 10 in. (34.9 x 25.4 cm.) It has been suggested that the sitter in this portrait is Lady Victoria Marjorie Harriet Manners, later Marchioness of Anglesey (1883 - 1946)

Sir John Lavery, R.S.A., R.H.A., R.A. (1856-1941) Evening on the House Top, Tangier signed 'J. Lavery' (lower left), signed again, inscribed and dated 'EVENING ON THE/HOUSE TOP. TANGIER/1920/BY JOHN LAVERY.' (on the reverse) oil on canvas 25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2 cm.) Given by the artist to Donald Jenkins, a friend of the artist, and by descent. Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 20 May 1999, lot 58, where purchased by the present owner. In Evening on the Housetop, Tangier Lavery refreshes one of his first and most successful North African themes. On his first visit to Tangier in January 1891, the painter was enchanted by the 'white city' overlooking the Straits of Gibraltar. Pacing the narrow alleyways of the Medina and the bustling marketplace, he found scenes that washed the dull light of the Glasgow studio from his eyes. Like Edith Wharton, he would often hear music coming from the upper storeys of buildings and, surveying the city from the top of his hotel, he found that young women, forsaking the drab costumes of the street, would dance and sing in the cool of the evening on the flat roofs, wearing their most colourful attire. During the next two years on long winter visits, his objective was to paint such a scene and it culminated in A Moorish Dance, a picture shown at the Royal Academy in 1893. Thereafter Lavery's career blossomed; he moved to London, worked in Rome and Berlin and in the late nineties returned to his student stamping ground at Grez-sur-Loing. Nevertheless the memory of Tangier remained vivid and in 1903 he returned for an extended stay, purchasing Dar-el-Midfah, a house on Mount Washington to the south-west of the Medina as a winter studio. On this flat-roofed Moroccan villa he would recreate the indolent harem atmosphere of the original Moorish dance in Evening, Tangier 1908 (Birmingham City Art Gallery). Other variants such as Night, Tangier (Ulster Museum, Belfast), followed, and in other instances the rooftop motif was maintained until, with the outbreak of war in 1914, Lavery's winter visits to the 'white city' were halted. They only resumed six years later on what was to be the last occasion when Evening on the Housetop was painted. Looking out over the Straits his favourite theme revived - the figure standing by the wall looks towards the spectator waiting for the song to begin and the old ritual to re-commence. It was an envoi. Lavery was never to go back to Tangier and in 1923, Dar-el-Midfah was sold. We are very grateful to Professor Kenneth McConkey for preparing the catalogue entries for lots 171, 181 and 182.