Lot 243: William Frederick Yeames, R.A. (1835-1918)

Study for 'And when did You last see your Father?' oil on panel 16 5/8 x 211/4 in. (42.2 x 54 cm.) PROVENANCE By descent from the artist to Mary Alice Chively. Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 14 July 1983, lot 209, when acquired by the present owner. EXHIBITION The Age of Innocence, 1989. Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, And when did you last see your Father?, 1993, no. 43. NOTES This is a preparatory sketch for one of the best known depictions of the English Civil War, and arguably one of the most famous of all Victorian Pictures. As was so often the case, the panel on which it was painted was used for a finished picture, A Cottage Garden, which is included in the present sale as lot 270. Under the guidance of Simon Edsor, skilled conservators have now separated the panel in two, and two separate paintings can now be enjoyed. The finished composition was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1878, no. 329, and was bought by the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, where it remains. Our sketch, though containing many of the figures in the final composition, is a more crowded affair, and it is interesting to note how the artist has spaced the figures in the final work to achieve the haunting impression of drama, dignity and pathos. In his memoirs the artist recalled: 'I had at the time I painted this picture living in my house a nephew of an innocent and truthful disposition, and it occurred to me to represent him in a situation where the child's outspokenness and unconsciousness would lead to disastrous consequences, and a scene in a country house occupied by the Puritans during the Rebellion in England suited my purpose'. The scene is poised at the moment where the child on the footstool is offered a choice between honesty and prudence. He is still too innocent to choose the latter, although contemporary critics were divided about his likely response. The picture assisted Yeames's election to the Royal Academy, but its subsequent fame was acquired gradually as it became known through reproduction, and a waxworks replica at Madame Tussaud's. It amply fulfilled the fate desired of it by the critic of the Times, 'to help people to something like a realisation of the life of the past, akin in painting to a well-written historical novel'. Yeames was born in Taganrog in Southern Russia, where his father was British Consul. The carpet on the table - a Tekkeensi - from Turkmenistan, rare in the West in 1878, was no doubt collected by his parents on this posting. Yeames came to England at the age of thirteen and studied under the sculptor Richard Westmacott, then spent six years in Italy, before finally settling in London and making his debut at the Royal Academy in 1859. He remained a regular contributor, becoming an Associate in 1866, and full Academician in 1878. For many years he was a member of the St John's Wood Clique, whose members such as P.H. Calderon, H.S Marks, G.D. Leslie and G.A. Storey, specialised in historical reconstructions.