Lot 8: John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829-1908)

The Women of Sorrento drawing in the Boats oil on panel 431/2 x 651/2 in. (110.5 x 166.4 cm.) NOTES A late work, to judge from its style, the picture was presumably based on a scene that Stanhope had witnessed during a visit to Sorrento, situated on the north side of the Sorrentine Peninsula in the Gulf of Naples. This was, of course, far from his home outside Florence, and he is most likely to have gone there either on holiday or in search of a warmer climate during the winter months. In fact, given his susceptibility to asthma, this may well have been a regular habit. Sorrento is situated in an area of great beauty, and is, as the guidebook says, 'an enchanting place at all seasons'. In the nineteenth century it was a favourite winter residence for foreigners. Ibsen finished Peer Gynt here in 1867, and here, some ten years later, Wagner and Nietzsche had their famous quarrel. For further discussion of Stanhope's genre scenes, see lot 5.