Lot 64: ATTRIBUTED TO HENRY FERGUSON

ATTRIBUTED TO HENRY FERGUSON THE HAGUE 1655-1730 FRANCE SOLDIERS PLAYING CARDS BESIDE RUINS signed centre right.: W:J: Ferguson . oil on canvas 46.5 by 65.5 cm.; 18¼ by 25¾ in.

M. Eidelberg, 'Landskips...dark and gloomy', in Apollo, September 2000, p. 32, reproduced in colour p. 36, as Henry Ferguson.

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 7th July 1993, lot 112, for £4,200, as attributed to William Gowe Ferguson, where acquired by the present owners.

At the time of the 1993 sale, when the work was sold as attributed to William Gowe Ferguson, Dr. Marijke de Kinkelder of the RKD in The Hague had suggested the painting was probably by another artist, not yet documented, called Ferguson, as William Gowe was a still-life painter and was not known to have painted genre scenes.
Dr. de Kinkelder pointed to a connection with a red chalk drawing of circa 1709-10 by Jean-Antoine Watteau, in Frankfurt-am-Main, Stadelschen Institut, inv. 1065, which in its general disposition of the figures and the architectural elements, is broadly similar to this composition. Dr. de Kinkelder had intended to publish the painting.

The work has since been published by M. Eidelberg (see Literature) who attributes the work to William's son Henry (also known as Henry Vergazon).