Property from a Private Collection
John Ferneley Snr.
A gentleman, possibly Francis Lyttelton Holyoake, later Sir Francis Lyttelton Holyoake Goodricke, 1st Baronet (1797–1865), on a bay hunter in a landscape, a hunt beyond
Lot closes
April 15, 12:24 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 GBP
Starting Bid
32,000 GBP
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Read more.Lot Details
Description
Property from a Private Collection
John Ferneley Snr.
Thrussington 1782–1860 Melton Mowbray
A gentleman, possibly Francis Lyttelton Holyoake, later Sir Francis Lyttelton Holyoake Goodricke, 1st Baronet (1797–1865), on a bay hunter in a landscape, a hunt beyond
signed, dated and located lower right: J.Ferneley / Melton Mowbray / 1828.
unframed: 86.1 x 111.3 cm.; 33⅞ x 43⅞ in.
framed: 98.8 x 124.2 cm.; 38⅞ x 48⅞ in.
J.T.E. Walker, Studley Castle, Warwickshire;
By whom sold, London, Christie's, 18 February 1893, lot 20 (as J. Ferneley, A hunter and rider), for 4 gns, to Abel;
Where acquired by the previous owner's great-grandfather;
Thence by descent;
Until sold anonymously ('The Property of a Gentleman'), New York, Christie's, 28 November 2007, lot 18 (as John E. Ferneley, Sen., A gentleman, possibly Francis Holyoake, on a bay hunter in a landscape, a hunt beyond), for $265,000;
Where acquired by the present owner.
The two principle qualities of a portrait by Ferneley, which are both very much in evidence in the present painting, are the exquisite drawing of the horses' heads and the sophistication of the artist's landscapes. As Major Guy Paget underlined in his 1931 monograph on the artist: 'All the veins stand out, and the eyes are bright and intelligent. He is fond of a soft bluish landscape, which so truly portrays the hazy effect which the cold clay soil gives to the horizon in Leicestershire. His distances are soft and blending; they recede naturally into his skies.'1
Francis Holyoake Goodricke, who can be tentatively identified in this painting, was a British landowner and politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 1835 to 1837. Ferneley had depicted Holyoake Goodricke in 1830 – two years prior to the execution of the present work – in another picture titled Squire George Osbaldeston on Ashton taking the fence side by side with Sir Francis Holyoake Goodricke on Crossbow, which hangs today in the National Gallery of Art, Victoria.2 Holyoake Goodricke lived at 19 Arlington Street, London, and Studley Castle, Warwickshire, where this painting is known to have resided during the later 19th century, when it was in the collection of J.T.E. Walker (see Provenance). After Holyoake Goodricke went bankrupt in 1863, the Studley estate passed to the Walker family. It is possible to suggest that this work was included in the transfer of property.
1 Major Guy Paget, The Melton Mowbray of John Ferneley, Leicester 1931, p. 102.
2 Inv. no. 2971-4; oil on canvas, 102.0 x 127.8 cm.
