A Sale by E.V. Lucas (1921)

Name: A Sale
Author: E.V. Lucas

"A Sale" by E.V. Lucas is a personal account of the auction of the late Sir John Day's picture collection at Christie's on 13 May 1909, written by a narrator who shares the dead collector's tastes and attended with particular enthusiasm. The narrator describes Christie's as an institution with a regular and knowing crowd, where bids among dealers are often imperceptible to outsiders but plain to the auctioneer. The sale opens modestly with a seascape by De Bock, which reaches 160 guineas, before proceeding through Bosbooms, whose grave ecclesiastical interiors are increasingly sought by collectors. Twelve Corots follow, provoking an anticipatory flutter in the room. The narrator reflects that while Corot's greatness is obvious now, the connoisseurs of the artist's own day were bewilderingly blind to it. The twelve canvases, described as tender and serene works from the Ville d'Avray studio, reach a combined total of nearly twelve thousand pounds. Daubigny's vast and luminous "Harvest Moon" opens at a thousand guineas, and his "Bords de l'Oise" brings 1800. Five paintings by Diaz of Barbizon follow, and the narrator notes wryly that making loud opening bids at auction, whether one has the funds or not, must do something beneficial for the spirit of a reduced gentleman. After the Diazes come five Duprés, one of which a friend had commissioned the narrator to buy for a hundred pounds, believing Dupré undervalued. The friend's hopes are dashed when the first bid alone is 200 guineas and the picture falls at 520. The narrator reflects on Christie's unpredictability, recalling his own discovery of a genuine David Cox hidden beneath a lot he purchased for two guineas, and observes that in any sale where competition concentrates on the great works, the humble collector retains a chance. The Harpignies section draws the narrator's admiration for the grand old painter, still active at ninety-two, whose lifelong dedication to trees and foliage has never produced anything meretricious or hurried. His largest picture brings 1800 guineas, and eleven works together reach 6270 guineas, a record that is surpassed the following week at the Cuthbertson sale. This prompts a digression on the longevity of artists, noting that open-air painters like Harpignies and the recently deceased William Callow, who lived to ninety-six, are sustained by light, air, and the constant reward of finding beauty in the world. Joseph Israels, still active at eighty-seven, is represented by six works bringing over 3500 guineas combined, with Mr. Preyer of Amsterdam and Mr. Drücker among the principal buyers. A "Shepherdess" by Charles Jacque, the supreme painter of sheep, sells for 1680 guineas, and then the room enters what the narrator calls a Dutch interlude dominated by the three Maris brothers and Mauve. Sir John Day held fifteen oils and thirteen watercolours by James Maris, purchased during the artist's lifetime for modest sums averaging eighty pounds for oils and forty for watercolours. At the sale the oils average a thousand pounds each and the watercolours four hundred, with the highest single price being 1600 guineas. The narrator defends these figures as entirely deserved, comparing James Maris's secure future to that of Constable and Crome. The emotional climax of the day comes with Lot 77, "The Four Mills," a small red and brown picture by Matthew Maris, measuring eight and a half by eleven and a half inches and depicting a invented Dutch town with four windmills, a bridge, a barge, and a peasant woman. The narrator describes Matthew Maris as the most remarkable of the three brothers, a solitary and sad old man living in London lodgings hung with his landlady's oleographs, painting daily but for no one to see, and writing letters said to be among the finest of the time. The picture left Matthew's easel in 1871 and was sold with difficulty for 100 francs to the dealer Goupil, who lectured the painter on painting unsaleable work. It then passed to Lord Powerscourt, from whom Sir John Day bought it for a hundred and twenty pounds. The bidding at the sale opens at a thousand guineas and climbs in a sequence rendered almost breathlessly, with the narrator interpolating impressions of the picture's peace and beauty, until the hammer falls at three thousand three hundred guineas to applause of tapping sticks and clapping hands. Lot 78, "Feeding Chickens," another small Matthew Maris painted in 1872, also begins at a thousand guineas and reaches three thousand, eventually going to Canada. Six William Marises are followed by eight oils and seven watercolours by Anton Mauve, the pastoral poet of Holland. The first oil, "Troupeau de Moutons sous Bois," bought by Sir John Day for a hundred and fifty pounds in 1888, opens at 500 guineas and is secured by Mr. Reinhart of Chicago for 2700 guineas. The narrator praises Mauve for devoting his entire life to demonstrating the beauty of the world without the faintest suggestion of self-advertisement. The second great emotional peak of the day is Millet's "Goose Maiden," a tiny canvas described as a jewel of paint from the moment it was born, whose bidding opens at 500 guineas and climbs to five thousand. A small Rousseau landscape depicting a river scene with a man fishing from a punt literally hushes the room, and later goes to the National Gallery. The sale concludes with roughly seventy-five thousand pounds having changed hands in three hours, and the narrator reflects that beauty cannot really be appraised: it is cheap at any price to those who truly desire it.

By E.V. Lucas · First published 1921 · Genre: Art criticism and connoisseurship, Essay, Memoir/Personal narrative · 5,167 words

First lines

The sale of the late Sir John Day's pictures was particularly / interesting to me, since it happens that I have the satisfaction of / sharing that good judge's predilections. His gods are for the most / part mine. I, too, would choose for my walls (if I had any) Corots and / Daubignys, Marises and Mauves, Millets and Bosbooms, Rousseaus and De / Wints. I, too, prefer the wistful crepuscule to the vivid noon. Hence / I entered Christie's at a quarter to one on 13 May, 1909, and took / the place that a boy messenger was keeping for me, with feelings of / peculiar excitement and enthusiasm.

Open reader

What this Textopian page supports

A Sale is listed on Textopian as a short story by E.V. Lucas, dated 1921 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Work type: Short story
Author: E.V. Lucas
Date: 1921 CE
Language: English
Genres: Art criticism and connoisseurship, Essay, Memoir/Personal narrative, Auction chronicle, Art history
Length: 5,167 words
Structure: 1 section, 61 paragraphs
Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)

Good citation fit

Work identity for A Sale by E.V. Lucas
Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
Readability and classroom-planning context
Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph

Similar titles

Genres

Art criticism and connoisseurship — The work is fundamentally an analysis of paintings, artists, and aesthetic value, examining the merits and market performance of various artworks and their creators in detail.
Essay — The piece is structured as a personal, reflective essay with a distinctive authorial voice discussing observations, opinions, and philosophical musings about art and artists.
Memoir/Personal narrative — The work is written from the first-person perspective recounting the author's personal experience attending an auction at Christie's on a specific date with subjective impressions and feelings.
Auction chronicle — The text provides a detailed account of a specific historical auction event, documenting lots, prices, bidders, and outcomes in chronological order.