Fine art auctions - Pre-Raphaelites to Last Romantics
Detail of "The Queen of Hearts" by John Byam Liston Shaw (full image shown below)

Christie’s has announced the upcoming fine art auction “The Joe Setton Collection: from Pre-Raphaelites to Last Romantics,” to be held December 10, 2020 in London.

Inspired by Percy Bate’s seminal 1899 book “The English Pre-Raphaelite Painters,” Joe Setton began collecting works by the Pre-Raphaelites and the two generations of artists they inspired in 1968. Intrigued, he tracked down Julian Hartnoll in his gallery on Duke Street and announced that he would buy any picture illustrated in the publication, thus beginning a fruitful partnership that would last until Joe’s death in 1984.

In a period when the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers were out of fashion, Joe, with his astute eye and passionate enthusiasm, was able to not only amass a wonderful collection of works, but also to create and lead a new market for these late Pre-Raphaelites.

Drawn to imagery rather than big names, Joe’s collection was full of romance, fantasy and unrequited love, which he found in the paintings of The Last Romantics, as the second and third generation of Pre-Raphaelites has come to be known.

Highlights include Marie Stillman’s masterpiece, “The Enchanted Garden”; John Byam Shaw’s majestic images of “The Queen of Hearts” and “The Queen of Spades”; Evelyn De Morgan’s Spiritualist inspired “Gloria in Excelsis” and exquisite gold drawing “The light shineth into darkness”; and George Frederic Watts’ sumptuous nude “A Study with the Peacock’s Feathers”.

The sale also includes beautiful works by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Simeon Solomon, John William Godward and Frederic, Lord Leighton.

Preview of the Pre-Raphaelites to Last Romantics Auction:

Fine art auctions - Pre-Raphaelites to Last Romantics
Lot 1
EVELYN DE MORGAN (1855-1919), “The light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it,” not signed and inscribed ‘The light shineth in the darkness and/the darkness comprehended it not/price £15/Evelyn de Morgan/1 The Vale/ King’s Road/ Chelsea’ (on a label on the reverse)
(Estimate £30,000-50,000)
Fine art auctions - Pre-Raphaelites to Last Romantics
Lot 6
GEORGE FREDERIC WATTS, O.M., R.A. (1817-1904), “A Study with the Peacock’s Feathers,” signed ‘G.F. Watts’ (lower left)
(Estimate £300,000-500,000).
Fine art auctions - Pre-Raphaelites to Last Romantics
Lot 5
JOHN BYAM LISTON SHAW (1872-1919),
“The Queen of Hearts,”
signed and dated ‘Byam Shaw 96’
in the artist’s original frame
(Estimate £250,000-£350,000)
Fine art auctions - Pre-Raphaelites to Last Romantics
Lot 3
ARCHIBALD WAKLEY (1873-1906), “The Sleeping Beauty,” signed and dated twice ‘1901/Archibald./Wakley./1903’ (lower right, in a cartouche
(Estimate £100,000-150,000)
Fine art auctions - Pre-Raphaelites to Last Romantics
Lot 2
SIR EDWARD COLEY BURNE-JONES, BT., A.R.A., R.W.S. (1833-1898), “Portrait of a Young Woman (Annie Keene),” signed with initials and dated ‘EBJ/1890’ (lower right) black, red and white chalks on sanguine paper
(Estimate £60,000-80,000)

For more details and highlights about this auction, please visit Christies.com or contact Charlotte Brown ([email protected]) or Sarah Reynolds ([email protected]).


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