Property from an English Private Collection
John Eckstein the Younger
The Vices of the Day
Lot closes
April 15, 12:12 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 GBP
Starting Bid
4,500 GBP
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Read more.Lot Details
Description
Property from an English Private Collection
John Eckstein the Younger
London, active by 1787–d. 1838 West Indies
The Vices of the Day
signed and dated lower left, on the stone: John Eckstein 1788
oil on canvas
unframed: 63.7 x 76.2 cm.; 25⅛ x 30 in.
framed: 81 x 94.5 cm.; 31⅞ x 37¼ in.
By descent in the artist's family until the present day.
According to the documents affixed to this unusual painting's reverse, this composition depicts 'the Vices of the Day'. Empress Catherine II of Russia (1729–1796) appears at lower right. Behind her are some soldiers in the Prussian service, who are being punished by what was called 'running the gauntlet': culprits were made to launch forwards, while a soldier struck them with an elastic weapon. Other vices, methods of punishment and forms of torture are represented throughout the rest of the scene: the effects of gunpowder, slavery, a prize fight, an execution by burning, an execution by decapitation, stealing and gambling, among others.
Signed and dated 1788, this painting was likely executed while John Eckstein the Younger was based in London, where he exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1787 to 1802. Perhaps his best known painting, the Portrait of Sir Sidney Smith; possibly Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar, hangs today in the National Portrait Gallery.1
1 Inv. no. NPG 832; oil on canvas, 237.5 x 144.8 cm.
