Lot 39: The Pose

Edward John Gregory, R.A. (1850-1909) The Pose signed with initials 'EJG' (lower right) and further signed and inscribed '[The] Pose/E.J. [Gr]egory R.A.' (on a label attached to the stretcher) oil on canvas 16 ¼ x 12 1/8 in. (41.3 x 30.8 cm.)

41.3 x 30.8 cm.

Anonymous sale [T.J. Nichols]; Christie's, London, 3 December 1917, lot 143 (9 gns to Carroll). Anonymous sale [Carrol Gallery]; Christie's, London, 29 November 1918, lot 49 (35 gns to Wormald). Sir John Wormald, K.B.E.; Christie's, London, 17 December 1928, lot 44 (unsold). Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 19 December 1969, lot 254. Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Belgravia, 27 June 1978, lot 117. with Christopher Wood, London, where purchased by the present owners.

This painting exemplifies the Regency Revival of the 1880s especially relating to the sitter's dress. The artist is reflected in the convex mirror above the lady's head and can be seen painting a much larger picture than ours. Gregory trained at the Royal Academy and made his name with illustrations for The Graphic magazine. His paintings of modern life were much admired both at the Grosvenor Gallery and at the Royal Academy, and his posthumous sale of 106 works held at Christie's in June 1905, included his masterpiece Boulter's Lock: Sunday Afternoon, a celebration of the Thames boating craze. Now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, Boulter's Lock, helped secure Gregory's election to the Royal Academy in 1897.