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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  Important Art
• Sale Date:
  20 Nov 2017 ~ 6.30pm
• Lot #:
  21
• Lot Description:
  Ludwig Becker
  (1808-1861)
  Portrait of Agnes Mathie Scott, (circa 1851)
  watercolour on ivory 
  7 x 6 cm 
  inscription in India ink on attached label verso: Agnes Scott; inscription in ink on attached label verso: For Robert Scott / from Jessie Scott / March 19th 1919; inscription in blue ball point pen on attached label verso: AGNES MATHIE SCOTT / b. 17-2-26 / m. / JAMES SCOTT / Att LUDWIG / BECKER. / 1851 / ON IVORY
• Provenance:
  James and Agnes Scott, Launceston; thence by descent; Jessie Scott, Launceston; thence by descent ; Robert Scott, Tasmania; thence by descent; Mr and Mrs Chris Walsh, nee Scott, Tasmania; thence by descent; Thelma Bruce, Tasmania; Private collection, Tasmania 
• Notes:
  The works of Ludwig Becker are amongst the rarest of all those painted by professional colonial artists. The majority of his known oeuvre rests in the sketchbooks held in the collection of the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, and in particular to sketches concerning the ill-fated expedition of Will and Burk, where Becker also met his end. Only seven examples of his work have ever been offered at auction.1 Born in Offenbach-am-Main, adjacent to Frankfurt, Germany, Ludwig Becker was trained as a lithographer and painter, specialising in portraits and the illustration of natural history specimens (the whereabouts of these former pictures remains unknown). In Germany, he collaborated with the naturalist Johann Kaup, helping illustrate his books Gallerie der Amphibien (1826) and the three volume Das Tierreich in seinen Hauptformen Systematisch Beschreiben (1835-37). A painter to the court of Archduke of Hesse-Darmstadt between 1840-44, it appears that his political alliances during the 1848 revolution may have forced him into exile. First to England in 1850, where he delivered lectures at the British Association for the Advancement of Science, before moving onto the Scottish Highlands on a painting excursion, and finally setting sail aboard the Hannah, landing in Van Diemen’s Land on 10 March 1851, where he remained until November 1852. From Launceston he made his way south to Hobart, where he was recorded by the spring of 1851. He was soon publishing editorial letters on scientific nature in the press, and by 14 October 1851, Becker had been elected a Member of the Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land.2 Lady Denison, an early patron of the artist in Hobart, noted in her journal how Becker payed ‘his way [in Tasmania] by taking likenesses, - miniatures, which he does very nicely indeed.’3 As suggested by Joan Kerr, many of these portraits seem to have been kept tightly in private collections throughout Tasmania.4 The only other recorded portrait from this period is of Philip Oakden (1851), in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Among his more notable portraits executed later in Victoria, include a striking front-on engraving of William Buckley (1857). The present miniature portrait, painted in 1851, represents Agnes Mathie Scott, nee McGowan (circa 1825/26-1894) at age twenty-five. Agnes married the surveyor James Scott (1810-1884) in 1845. Besides the primary inscription on the reverse, an image of Agnes, held in the Archives Office of Tasmania collection, allows us to cross-reference and positively identify the present portrait with Agnes Scott. Despite the grainy texture and the usual wear – the inherent vice of black and white photography – the image clearly points to an aged Mrs Scott. Although separated by decades, the physiognomic traits align with the miniature of the younger sitter. Both portraits capture the long oval face that carries those distinguishing almond-shaped eyes, straight delicate nose, tightly pursed lips and protruding chin. Even her hair style, although now more in line with the fashion of the period, still carries the distinct centre-part. The green and white tartan dress, with blue, red and yellow criss-cross design, is an obvious reference to Agnes’ Scottish heritage. Women’s tartan fashion is also the centrepiece for Becker’s The Brothers (1851), (private collection)5. There is no questioning the identity of the subject in this miniature work. In order to verify stylistic authorship, a comparative study between the present work and the portrait of Caroline Davidson (1854), in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, is useful. When viewed side-by-side, there is a clear affinity in the manner and quality of the painted surface. The delicate modelling of the nose, brow and profile, and the sharply defined eyes are certainly painted by the same hand. Over the last two years, Mossgreen has had the privilege of selling a great deal of works of art, decorative arts and furniture that have belonged to the Scott family collection in Tasmania. They included: W. C. Piguenit’s Fishing in the River, 1877, (sold $27,280); a pair of English School portraits of Officer George Thomas Scott and Eva Constance Scott (sold $16,120); an 1825 house portrait of the Scott’s original homestead on Mount Morriston, (sold $32,240); and several other important decorative works previously owned by the Scott family of Mount Morriston sold in the Australian & Colonial History auction on 28 June 2016. Offered for sale through auction for the very first time, the re-emergence of this rare miniature portrait is an important addition to the oeuvre of Ludwig Becker. Petrit Abazi 1 A pair of miniature portraits sold at auction in 2011, ‘Naplomata (Henrietta); Kanjawerkie’, painted in Tasmania in 1852, achieved $204,000. 2 ‘Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land’, in Colonial Times, 14 October 1851, p. 3; 3 Lady Dennison, journal entry of 27 September 1851, cited in Joan Kerr, The Dictionary of Australian Artists, Painters, Sketchers, Photographers and Engravers to 1870, Ocford University Press, Melbourne, 1992, p. 59. 4 Ibid. 5 See black and white illustration, Ibid.
• Estimate:
  A$30,000 - 50,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.