94
WHYTES
SINCE 1783
,
194
Attributed to
John Glover (1767-1849)
MUSIDORA BATHING HER FEET
oil on canvas
with inscription on label affixed on reverse, which reads
“‘This cool retreat his Musidora sought; Warm in her cheek
the sultry season glowed, And, robed in loose array, she
came to bathe, Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream’.
bide Thomson’s
Seasons
/Glover”
34 by 34in. (86.36 by 86.36cm)
Provenance:
Purchased by the previous owner at the Contents Sale,
Staleen House, Donore, Co. Meath, c/o Alain, Chawner Ltd.,
29 July 1986, lot 243 (illustrated p.14);
Private collection
This subject was also painted by Thomas Gainsborough among
others.
Staleen House was owned by Thomas Gerard Du Buisson (b. 1892,
Betchworth, Surrey). He served with the Royal Horse Artillery on
the Western Front during WWI from August 1914. He was Secretary
of the Grafton Hunt and lived between England and Ireland with
his wife, Sylvia Grace (née Portman). He died aged 97 in Suffolk.
€
3,000-
€
4,000 (£2,560-£3,420 approx.)
193
After
Pompeo Batoni
(Italian, 1708-1787)
ST. MARY MAGDALENE
oil on canvas
24 by 37.50in. (60.96 by 95.25cm)
The present lot is
after
Pompeo Batoni’s
Saint
Mary Magdalene
, which formerly hung in the
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden (former inventory
number, Inv Nr. 454).The original was
destroyed in World War II, during three Allied
bombing raids of Dresden between 13 and
14 February, 1945.
The sheltered grotto scene depicts a
recumbent Mary Magdalene, with exposed
shoulder and chest; hands clasped reading a
book propped up by a human skull. Hints of a
mountainous landscape in the distance can
be seen in the right middle ground and
above centre where the rocks part slightly to
shine light on the scene. Batoni was
influenced by Raphael and was celebrated
for his technique, draughtsmanship and
reverence for antiquity.
Born in Lucca, Batoni studied in Rome, where he moved in 1727, setting up a studio
and home there in Via Bocca di Leone. From 1735 he received numerous
commissions for altarpieces, mythological and historical pictures as well as portraits.
Papal commissions ensued and he became curator of the Papal collections. He died
in Rome. His work can be found in the collection of the Galleria Borghese, Rome,
Uffizi, Florence, Musée du Louvre, Paris, Museo del Prado, Madrid and Liechtenstein
Museum, Vienna among others.
This work is presented in an ornate German gilt trophy frame with a Teutonic Cross
lower centre, c.1850s.
€
2,000-
€
3,000 (£1,710-£2,560 approx.)
