Lot 32: Philip Hermogenes Calderon, R.A. (1833-1898)

Philip Hermogenes Calderon, R.A. (1833-1898)
Home after Victory
signed 'P.H. Calderon, 1867' (lower right), and inscribed 'No. 1 Home after Victory/Philip H. Calderon A.R.A. 16 Marlborough Place St John's Wood' and 'contributed by Ephraim Hallam Esq, Oakwood Hall' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
49 x 82½ in. (124.4 x 227.3 cm.)

London, Royal Academy, 1867, no. 356.
Manchester, Royal Jubilee Exhibition, 1887.

Art Journal, 1867, p. 139.

Purchased from the artist by Agnews, Manchester on behalf of Sam Mendel Esq., Manley Hall, Manchester.
His sale; Christie's, 24th April 1875, lot. 413. (sold for 900 gns to Agnews).

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
The Art Journal enthusiastically received this picture:

'P.H. Calderon, A.R.A., this year, at last, gives to the Academy one of its chief attractions. 'Home after Victory' (356) is a picture marked throughout by the painter's characteristic cleverness. The incident is the return of a soldier - a fine noble fellow - from the wars, to the home of his father, his wife, and his family. They are, of course, all brimful of joy to see him. His wife, hands on his arms, is on tiptoe of delight. The old father, with outstretched arms, as it were cries and screams for gladness. The artist has the knack of seizing action, and motion at the right moment, just at the point when most may be implied or expressed. The present picture is somewhat panoramic, though not so directly processional as that of last year. This form of composition requires that the figures shall be linked together so that the continuity shall not at any point fall asunder. This difficulty the artist has met with his usual skill and cool calculation. The colour shows equal deliberation, yet the picture carries the appearance of accident or extemporaneous action in nature. The colour, like the occasion that brings the figures together, is made joyous: there has been gained by blues, yellows and reds, a pleasant cheefulness. Pigments are thrown together with sportive diversity, and yet are apportioned and meted out as with the certitude of science. The background assumes an unobtrusive tone, which serves to bring the compostion into quiet unity. The execution and treatment seem to have fallen under Flemish influence. The servants, who stand as spectators, specially recall figures in the pictures of the school of Van Eyck. Yet Mr Calderon has little in common with Leys: the one goes to nature, the other is enslaved to precedent and tradition.

The picture was purchased by Thomas Agnew on behalf of Sam Mendel Esq, a wealthy Manchester cotton merchant, His eighty acre estate, Manley Hall was built at an expense of £120,000 and contained his magnificent art collection including J.M.W. Turner's Venice, from the porch of Madonna della Salute (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and William Holman Hunt's Il Dolce far Niente (The Forbes Collection, London). When his business collapsed in 1875 Christie's sale of the collection lasted twenty one days.