Additional Images

Provenance:

Commissioned by Messrs Ernest Gambart, London, 1870;
Sold Estate sale at Christie’s, May 4th, 1903, lot 289;
Bt. Messrs Thomas McLean, London;
A.B. Yuille, sold Christie’s, Feb. 6th, 1909;
Messrs P.D. Colnaghi & Obach, London, sold Christie’s, Mar. 16th, 1913, Lot 124;
Bt. Messrs W.W. Sampson, London;
The Watson Galleries, Montreal;
Estate Collection, Canada

Literature:

Vern G. Swanson, The Biography and Catalogue Raisonne of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, London, 1990, Cat. No. 118, p. 155 cites the following literature references: Vosmaer, c. 1885 (93); Christie’s, 1903 (ac); Dircks 1910. p. 27; Christie’s, 1913 (ac); Maas letter to Swanson Sept. 25th, 1985 in author’s possession

Note:

This work previously cited by Vern Swanson as “present location unknown” with an “unknown” exhibition history has resurfaced in a Canadian collection. The portrait was commissioned by Ernest Gambart, the powerful London-based Belgian art dealer. Gambart was a very important patron of Alma-Tadema and together they agreed to a commission of over 70 paintings.

Dr. Swanson relates the circumstances surrounding the execution of the present portrait as follows:

“Alma-Tadema was still in England when he completed this small portrait of Gambart’s four-year-old ward. When Gounod and Georgina Weldon stayed with Gambart in Spa in 1872, Georgina referred to Mme Angelée several times in her diary (unpublished). The latter was obviously very ill at the time, and because of her poor health, Gambart took special care of her until she died in January 1873. He then put her young son, Ernest, in the care of a clergyman as part of ‘my office as tutor’ to her boy. It seems probable that he was in fact Gambart’s illegitimate son.

‘This son’s Christian name of Ernest does tend to suggest that he was Gambart’s… All in all, I think that the chances that this was Gambart’s boy are very strong indeed, What a marvellous discovery!’ [Maas, Sep 25th, 1985]

The portrait was still in Gambart’s possession at his death in 1902. Maas does not remember any mention of Ernest Angelée in Gambart’s will, which suggests that the son predeceased him. ‘Or, just as likely, Gambart who, as you will have gathered, was incredibly devious, could have made provision for him in some other way in the event of his death,’ (ibid). The painting’s correct title was suppressed in the Christie’s auction catalogue for the Gambart estate sale of May 4th, 1903, which listed it as Head of a boy, and the painting only brought five guineas. If he was illegitimate, none of the surviving members of the Gambart family would have bought it, hence the unusually low price in sale which raised record Alma-Tadema prices, for it must have been a good picture, otherwise it would not have been bought by Thomas McLean and again by Colnaghi in 1913.“