William Powell Frith, two original sketches and his own handwritten record of sales

A remarkable item, including 'Ramsgate Sands' selling to Queen Victoria in 1854

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A ledger once in the possession of Victorian painter William Powell Frith, containing two original preparatory pencil sketches, his own handwritten record of his paintings, when they were executed and, if applicable, to whom they sold, and finally a collection of newspaper clippings, each with Firth's handwritten annotation with name of publication and date.

William Powell Frith was an important and influential Victorian artist. He sold both is paintings and their copyright and so made himself the wealthiest artist of the age. The Pre-Raphaelites criticized the vulgarity of his historical and genre work, but he developed a new direction with his huge canvases of Victorian scenes through which his popularity grew. His Ramsgate Sands was purchased by Queen Victoria for Buckingham Palace (see below), and John Ruskin (whose portrait was painted by Frith), hailed his work as the future of art.

This remarkable item measures 24 × 18cm, quarter leather (defective) and with marbled boards. It contains:

1. A preliminary pencil sketch (unknown whether the project was completed) of a scene from A Trip to Scarborough by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. This has been indentified by the Frith's pencilled handwritten along the bottom edge of the picture, which is a quotation from the play, 'Lord Fop[pington] (to his tailor) "Death and eternal tirtures!Sir, I say the coat is too wide here by a foot'". The drawing shows Lord Foppington surrounded by his coterie, including the tailor.

2. A second preliminary sketch, untitled, and shows a lady being attending by a gentleman, with figures in the background.

This is followed by eight blank leaves.

3. Frith's own handwritten record of sales. Titled "List of pictures painted by W P Frith commencing 1839". This is followed by six pages with hand-ruled lines in pencil and Frith has recorded the date abd tiutle of his pictures, along with, where applicable, the purchaser and cost. Among the important works that are mentioned here are:

1843: Kate Nickleby and Dolly Varden, Mr Dickens £20 each. These were two of Frith's paintings of characters from Charles Dickens' novels (Nicholas Nickleby and Barnaby Rudge). Frith and Dickens were close friends, research shows that Frith painted at least four copies of Dolly Varden, one specifically for Dickens. It was the painting of Dolly Carden that drew the two men togther, and they remained close friends until Dickens' death in 1870.

1846: "Marianne" to S C Hall (Samuel Carter Hall, the editor of The Art Journal, the most important Victorian journal for art).

1850: Mr Sheepshanks, The Good Natured Man. This was John Sheepshanks, a major Victorian art collector who bequeathed his collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, becoming the foundation of their Victorian art collection.

1854: Ramsgate Sands The Queen, £1,000.

This record runs from 1839 to 1856 and details approximately 100 paintings, noting on a few occasions that the copyright has also been sold. Other notable works mentioned include The Last Minstrel, Hogarth brought before the Governor of Calais, The Gleaner, and A Stage coach adventure in 1750.

4. The final part is nine pages of newspaper clippings extracted by Frith and pasted in, the name and date of each publication being annotated in ink. Four of these pages are from a smaller notebook and are loosely inserted.

Condition

This item is in fragile condition. The leather spine has perished and the boards are held together by the remains of the binding, the boards worn and rubbed. The contents detached from the binding but held together in gatherings by the original string. Some light spotted foxing throughout but the two pencil sketches in clean condition. Tanning and offsetting to the newspaper clipping pages. And finally, a pungent odour of nicotine which should recede in time. The whole is housed in a previous owner's envelope with typed label to front listing the contents.

Further images available on request.

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