Single-Owner Collection Built Up Over A Lifetime Offered Over Several Sales at Christie’s
LONDON.- Christie’s announced the sale of Property from The Collection of the Late John Appleby, which will be offered from July to November 2010, throughout several specialist sales at Christie’s, as well as a single-owner collection sale to be held in South Kensington on 4 November 2010. The collection, consisting of approximately 2,000 lots, includes an important selection of Old Master paintings, British drawings, watercolours, marine paintings and a large unrivalled group of topographical views; it is expected to realise £2-3 million.
An affable connoisseur, John Appleby’s passionate enthusiasm was infectious. He moved to Jersey, in the Channel Islands during the 1970s and traded as a dealer, primarily in watercolours and topographical views of Jersey and the Channel Islands. In 1973, Appleby’s enthusiasm to secure a portrait of the Jersey born actress Lillie Langtry by Sir John Everett Millais, led him to considerably overrun his commission bid from The States of Jersey in order to secure it. Luckily they honoured his bid and it is now one of the jewels of the museum collection. He became an expert in the field keen on sharing his extensive knowledge, and published several books on his specialist subject ranging from ‘The Dictionary of Painters of the Channel Islands’ to a biography of ‘Paul Jacob Naftel’, and ‘Edmund Blampied – A Catalogue Raisonne’.
Gaspé Basin, Gulf of St Lawrence, Quebec in 1868 (estimate: £40,000-60,000). Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010
John Appleby’s collection comprises both personally collected works as well as dealer stock dating from the 17th to the 20th century, most of which have not been seen on the market in a generation. Combining his work and his private passion, Appleby inherited a large number of paintings on his father’s death, but was not actively dealing towards the end of his life. John Appleby came from a long line of dealers once neighbouring Christie’s King Street headquarters, residing on the prestigious Ryder Street, London. There has always been a close connection between Christie’s and the Appleby family.
Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings and Watercolours Evening and Day Sales
Christie’s first sale to offer Property from The Collection of the Late John Appleby is in early July. The highly anticipated Old Masters Evening sale will see ten works from Appleby’s collection being sold alongside highly important Old Master paintings from Althorp – the ancestral home of the Spencer Family. A particularly exciting feature of the sale that is testament to the perceptive eye of John Appleby is Portrait of a gentleman, half-length, in a fur mantle, holding gloves, his arm resting on a ledge, attributed to Titian (c.1488/90-1576) (estimate: £200,000- 300,000). Published for the first time in 2006 and widely accepted as autograph, this handsome portrait is an exciting addition to the corpus of the great Venetian master. Further highlights include the beautiful A sleeping legionary in a helmet by Ubaldo Gandolfi (1728-1781) (estimate: £40,000-60,000) and the highly finished pencil and wash drawing of Reading from the River from 1821 by John Constable, R.A. (East Bergholt 1776-1837 London) (estimate: £70,000-100,000).
Exploration and Travel Including The Polar Sale
John Appleby’s fascination with the trading routes between the Channel Islands and Canada is likely to have been the reason for his acquisition of a group of five important early Canadian paintings by Jersey artist Philip John Ouless. The Canadian subjects (views taken at the Gaspé Bay Peninsula, Quebec and at Newfoundland) relate to Jersey’s important role in the triangular trade which existed at the time. The Jersey fishing fleet caught from the prolific stocks off the coast of Newfoundland, sold their cargoes of dried cod down the eastern seaboard, where they bought rum, molasses and tropical fruits for their onward journey to Spain and Portugal. The five views are rare and important pictorial records of Canada around the time of Confederation in 1867. Illustrated above is Gaspé Basin, Gulf of St Lawrence, Quebec in 1868 (estimate: £40,000-60,000).
Travel, Science and Natural History
Christie’s South Kensington’s second Travel, Science and Natural History sale of the year will comprise a broad spectrum of pictures, maps, books and instruments, derived from the Golden Age of Exploration and the Enlightenment during the late 18th and 19th centuries. The international selection on offer caters for every collector, with estimates from only £500 – from the seasoned connoisseur to those discovering the pleasure of buying at auction for the first time. Highlights from the late John Appleby’s collection on offer in this sale include the English School (circa 1840) watercolour, Shipping in Table Bay, Cape Town (estimate: £1,200-1,800), as well as an oil on board by Mortimer Menpes (1855-1938), A street scene, possibly Kyoto, Japan (estimate: £1,200-1,800).
Property From The Collection of the Late John Appleby
The single-owner sale will include a wide array of Old Master works as well as many early topographical British drawings and watercolours. The selection of Channel Islands views on offer, encompassing works by many of the most prominent Jersey artists, is widely considered to be the best collection in either private or museum hands, and is unequalled anywhere in the world. Although John Appleby followed the family tradition and was a dealer for over sixty years, he did not trade during the years leading up to his death, meaning many of the works on offer have not been on the market for over twenty years. Works include Gorey, Jersey by John Young (1786-1828) (estimate: £10,000-15,000); Panorama of St Helier and Elizabeth Castle beyond by Le Genvre, 1818 (estimate: £10,000-15,000); View of Genoa by Francesco Zucchi (1692-1764) (estimate: £3,000-5,000); and Madonna and Child by Francesco de Mura (1696-1782) (estimate: £15,000-25,000), and pictures by Philip John Ouless, Edward Duncan, Paul Jacob Naftel, John le Capelain and Edmund Blampied also feature.
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