Lot 217: MARSHALL CLAXTON (British, 1812-1881)

Female Figure seated against a Night Sky
oil on board
30 x 24 cm
Painted circa 1850

Leonard Joels, Melbourne
Acquired from the above from the present owner in 1962

The young woman in the painting bears a strong resemblance to the woman in Claxton's An Emigrant's Thoughts of Home, 1859, in the National Gallery of Victoria. Claxton exhibited his first subject picture The Evening Star, at the Royal Academy in 1833. Another, titled Waiting Anxiously was exhibited at the Academy in 1872.

Claxton held a large exhibition of about two hundred his works in Sydney in 1851. The Sydney Morning Herald described it as a "delightful galaxy of art". It included "rough and finished scraps and sketches - designs and effects for large pictures - portrait - conversation pieces - and historical paintings". Bell's Life (28/1/51) claimed that Claxton's best works "stud the gallery like so many stars".

In 1851, Claxton submitted the winning entry in a competition for an emblem for Sydney University. It was titled Learning, A Female Figure seated under a Southern Cross. It was used by the University until 1857.

A 10% Goods and Services tax (G.S.T) will be charged on the Buyer's Premium in all lots in this sale