ART TREASURE FOUND

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 311, 23 March 1928, Page 1

ART TREASURE FOUND

William Blake Water-Colours Discovered in Auckland House

LINK WITH GREAT POET

TWO sisters, living- quietly together in a little house in Arthur Street, Ellerslie, found recently in a neglected corner of their sitting-room, a set of water-colour paintings which have .proved to be the work of the famous English poet and painter, William Blake. These pictures are worth from twelve to fifteen thousand pounds, and their discovery is the most important Blake find of this century. It will not be long before English and American dealers are fighting for their possession. Other pictures in the house are worth about £5,000.

The Blake pictures arfe an original t 0 f the famous “Illustrations to the look of Job,” which is the finest work iline by him in either of the arts in which he excelled. jj S the crowning work of a genius, md in it may be seen those qualities which have brought Blake his tardy ime. There is extraordinary imaginative vigour, glorious mastery of line iad marvellous venturesomeness in the use of colour. Blake biographers have known of the existence of this set, for their Daintins was one °* the few tasks for which the artist received helpful pay. They have frequently been written about in England, but no English eyes have seen them for almost 80 years. Since 1851 they have been in Auckland. Their present possessors are Mrs. E. J. Hickson and her sister, Miss Martin, daughters of the late Mr. Albin Martin, an English artist who arrived in Auckland in 1851. Mr. Martin, who was born in ISI3, was associated with Blake as a child, and in 1834 he became a pupil of the iamous English landscape painter. John Linnell. BLAKE’S PATRON Liiinell, as a young man, was among the first to recognise Blake’s genius and ho did much to make easier the later days of the poet’s life. Linnell and Thomas Butts, whom he met much ■artier in his life, were the only patrons that he had. He did much vovk on commission for Butts, and 'he last labour of this kind was “Illustrations to the Book of Job.” This, his vest ambitious art work for 20 years, *as done in 1823. At this time Blake, an ageing man, ’as in dire want. Linnell, then a tung man with no great sums of noney to spare, was struck witli pity t Blake’s plight, and commissioned aim to execute a duplicate set of the Illustrations.” Hi® commission was merely a polite method of placing Hake on pension. He entered into an agreement under which Blake was a produce the pictures at leisure, and receive the sum of £IOO, at the rate ut two pounds a week. The pictures were then to be engraved, and he was " participate further in the profits from the engravings. There were no profits, but Linnell, doing a handsome f'ng, paid the poet another £SO. , On November 10, 1825, writing to nianell, Blake says: “I have, I heave, done nearly all that we agreed upon.” authenticity established The set, which consisted of 21 picres, passed into Linnell's possession atd two years later Blake died. From

ir» e 0n ~?. more was heard of the pic- ■ when an Auckland Blake

student was shown the pictures possessed by Mrs. Hickson he felt certain that this was the set done for Linnell, for the Butts set was sold at the dispersal of the Crewe Blake collection in 1903 for £5,600. Since thi| time Blake prices have appreciated more than double. To prove the authenticity of the Auckland set It was necessary to establish definite relationship between Linliell and Albin Martin. It was known that they were master and pupil, but correspondence in Miss Martin’s possession proves that they were on friendly terms, and Linnell corres-

ponded with Martin after his arrival in New Zealand. They are entertaining letters, and one in particular contains severe criticism of some of Mr. Martin’s work. Criticism that could have come from none but a master. There is also a letter from Alfred Bell, a famous stained-glass artist who thanks Mr. Martin for a loan of the Blake pictures that were in his possession. This evidence is almost conclusive, but it is made more so by the fact that Miss Martin has yet another Blake picture in her possession. It is named “The Wise and Foolish Virgins,” and in Gilchrist’s Life of Blake it is described as “a very noble work.” The picture, “The Departure of Lot,” which was discovered in the Public Library last year, was probably also in the possession of Mr. Martin at one time. Miss Martin has also In her possession four portraits by Linnell, two being studies of her father, and the other two of other members of the Martin family. There is also an oil portrait of the famous early nineteenth satirist, “Peter Pindar,” by the artist John Opie. In that little home in Arthur Street are pictures which must be worth £20,000. Auckland has its link with William Blake, but it is almost sure to be broken. “The Illustrations to the Book of Job” will be sought £y connoisseurs in England’and America, but. Auckland has the minor thrill of knowing that an art discovery of major importance has been made in the city.