Lot 74: Claude Lorraine Ferneley (Leicestershire, 1822-1891)

Claude Lorraine Ferneley (Leicestershire, 1822-1891)
John Ferneley Senior (1782-1860) in his studio at Elgin Lodge, Melton Mowbray
signed, inscribed and dated 'Claude L Ferneley Melton Mowbray 1866.' (lower right)
oil on canvas
19 x 25 in. (48.3 x 63.8 cm.)

Leicester, Leicester Museums and Art Gallery, John Ferneley, 1762-1860, 15 October-13 November 1960, no. 54.

G. Paget, The Melton Mowbray of John Ferneley, Leicester, 1931, illustrated opposite p. 102.

The Hon. Mrs. Tennant, by 1931, and by descent to the present owner.

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
Claude Ferneley, a successful artist in his own right, sometimes assisted his father, John Ferneley Senior, in the painting of backgrounds to his pictures. After his father's death, Claude is known to have been commissioned to make copies of Ferneley's Senior's pictures when a patron wanted a replica of a favourite work. The present picture, painted six years after John's death, may well have been a commission from a client who owned a number of Senior's pictures. The work on the wall appears to show the larger part of The Quorn at Quenby of 1823, a huge and celebrated picture ownership of which was decided on the role of dice in 1825, forty-two shares of five guineas each having been subscribed. The winner was Sir Bellingham Graham, Master of the Quorn at the time, whose nominee threw a score of 30, and the picture is still at Norton Conyers. A sketch for the finished picture, measuring 15 x 38 inches, is in the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery.