Lot 119
STANHOPE FORBES (BRITISH 1857-1947) §
SAVED FROM THE FLAMES
Auction: 27 November 2014 at 11:00 GMT
Description
Signed and dated 1989, oil on canvas
Dimensions
100cm x 69cm (39.5in x 27in)
Footnote
Provenance: Property from a Scottish country house.
Note: This is a fully worked up study for a detail of the huge mural which Forbes contributed to the 'Great Fire' project in 1899 for the Royal Exchange building. The following quotation from a contemporaneous issue of the New York Times (February 18th, 1899) describes the mural and contextualises the painting offered here:
'The decoration of the walls of the Royal Exchange, London, is fast making progress, and the huge mural painting by Mr Stanhope Forbes, A.R.A., of "The Great Fire of London." has been put in it's place. Mr. Forbes's picture was painted at Newlyn, but it was brought to London, and was shown recently at a studio. Mr. Forbes had found his subject on the banks of the Thames, which was, according to Evelyn's account of the fire, "covered with goods floating, all the barges and boats laden with what some had time and courage to save." The picture shows an ancient river-wall, with the burning city in the background and middle distance, and in the foreground a motley crowd of houseless Londoners carrying their children and their household treasures down to the boats. Smoke and sparks sweep across the twilight sky, and the glare if the burning houses reddens the river from bank to bank. The new picture for the decoration of the Royal Exchange has been presented by the Sun Insurance Company, an institution which, fortunately for its proprietors, did not come into existence until more than half a century after the great fire.'