James Smetham

James Smetham (1821-1889) Saul "hiding among the stuff" signed and dated '1866/J.Smetham' (lower right) and withinscription 'Saul "hiding among the stuff."' (on an old labelattached to the reverse) pen and brown ink, watercolour and bodycolour with gum arabic 5¼ x 4 7/8 in. (13.3 x 12.4 cm.) Lot Notes The scene depicted here is taken from the first book of Samuelwhen Saul tries to hide from his destiny to be King ofIsrael. 'Therefore they enquired of the Lord further, if the man should yetcome thither. And the Lord answered, Behold he hath hid himselfamong the stuff.' I Samuel X:22

James Smetham (1821-1889) A wayfarer resting by a lake signed and dated 'J. Smetham. 1865' (lower left) pencil, pen and brown ink and watercolour heightened with white,and with scratching out on paper 4 7/8 x 6¾ in. (12.3 x 17.2 cm.) Provenance Carol Johnson; Christie's, London, 24 March 1981, lot 171, with'The Door was shut (The Seven Foolish Virgins)'. Exhibited Springfield, 1988, no. 38. Lot Notes Smetham is one of the most exciting associates of ThePre-Raphaelites. The son of a Wesleyan minister, he was inspired tobe an artist by meeting Peter de Wint while living in Lincolnshireand his enthusiasm later fired by reading Ruskin's Modern Painters.He met Ruskin and Rossetti in 1854, however he rejected the pursuitof minute particulars which defined Pre-Raphaelitism; instead heenvisaged a magical world suffused with colour. He took hissubjects from the Bible, literature and fable, sometimes adopting aSymbolist bent.

James Smetham (1821-1889) The Call of the Prophet Amos signed 'J. Smetham' (lower left) and further signed, dated and inscribed 'Call of the Prophet Amos/by James Smetham./1875.' (on an old label on the reverse) oil on canvas 10 x 24 in. (25.5 x 62.3 cm.) Provenance Dennis J. Smetham; Christie's, London, 25 July 1975, lot 71 (440 gns. to Coulter). Lot Notes Smetham's work was characterised by his friend Rossetti as partaking 'greatly of Blake's immediate spirit, being also often allied by landscape intensity to Samuel Palmer'. In the artist's own words he explained how he sought in his imagination to combine 'art, literature and the religious life'. Amos, a shepherd who tended mulberries, lived near Jerusalem on the edge of the desert of Judah. He was one of the first great Hebrew prophets and foretold the doom which would fall on Israel unless its people mended their ways. In the midst of the social and industrial upheaval of the mid-nineteenth century such subjects held great appeal for Smetham, who felt they had contemporary significance.

JAMES SMETHAM (BRITISH 1821-1889) THE ROSE OF DAWN Signed, oil on canvas 61cm x 35cm (24in x 13.8in)

JAMES SMETHAM (BRITISH 1821-1889) CHRIST AT EMMAUS Oil on panel, arched top 50cm x 39cm (19.7in x 15.4in) Estimate £4,000-6,000