Battledore by Albert Joseph Moore, ARWS 1841-1893

Battledore

Albert Joseph Moore, ARWS 1841-1893

1872

Oil on canvas, signed with the artist's anthemion symbol

dimensions: 14 1/2 x 6 inches, 37 x 15.2 cm.

Provenance: Walford Graham Robertson; Kerrison Preston by descent to his son

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Commentary by Hilary Morgan

The present painting is a small version of the large 'Battledore' (42 x 17 1/2inches, 106.5 x 44.5 centimetres), exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1871. It is common to find different versions of Moore's works as he not only made careful studies and drawings of each figure, but also colour sketches which show his central preoccupation with colour harmonics. These colour sketches would often be finished after the large version was complete and this would account for Baldry's date of 1872 for this work. This work has a paler and more delicate colour scheme than the large canvas. 'Battledore' is a vivid illustration of Moore's dicturn: 'Anachronism is the soul of art' (Monkhouse, 1885). It combines a classical figure with the instruments of a fashionable modern game.

The work has an interesting provenance. Walford Graham Robertson was Moore's pupil in the 1880s and subsequently his friend. He had a growing reputation in the Edwardian era as a theatrical designer, playwright and painter., but the shock of the war led him practically to abandon his career. His reminiscences, Time Was, (Hamish Hamilton, London 1931), contain an interesting account of the rather sad bohemianism of Moore's last years. Kerrison Preston, the great 20th Century Blake collector, was Robertson's friend and executor, and in 1955 edited a collection of his letters (Letters from Graham Robertson, 1953). He was one of the tiny group of mid twentieth century collectors, such as Cecil French, who did not despise Victorian-painting, and his personal collection contained a number of fine Victorian works including Watts's picture of Ellen Terry, 'Choosing' which is now in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

References

Baldry, Alfred Lys. Albert Moore. His Life and Works (large paper edition). London: George Bell and Son, 1894.

Letters from Graham Robertson. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1953.

Monkhouse, C. "Albert Moore," Magazine of Art. 1885, volume VIII.

Morgan, Hilary and Nahum, Peter. Burne-Jones, The Pre-Raphaelites and Their Century. London: Peter Nahum, 1989. Catalogue number 122.

Last modified 23 April 2007