“The Mandolin (The Mandolin Player)” by James Smetham, 1821-89

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The Mandolin (The Mandolin Player)

James Smetham, 1821-89

1866

Oil on canvas

19 ½ x 16 inches (49.5 x 40.7 cm)

Private collection.

[Click on the image to enlarge it.]

The Mandolin must be considered Smetham’s Pre-Raphaelite/Aesthetic Movement masterpiece. It clearly shows the influence of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Smetham’s good friend and supporter. As Prettejohn and Gere point out: “The half-length female figure presented close to the picture plane and lacking background perspective, richly attired and mesmeric in beauty, characterised Rossetti’s oeuvre at this date…Two of Rossetti’s studio props feature prominently in the picture: the lute is seen in Rossetti’s Christmas Carol of 1867 and the swansdown scarf is included in The Blue Bower of 1865.

The model is Ellen Smith who sat to Rossetti in Joli Coeur of 1867” (Christie’s, December 12, 2017, lot 21). Jeremy Maas attributed the picture to both Smetham and Rossetti when he featured it in his exhibition Pre-Raphaelitism in 1970. An old label on the verso of the painting, dated January 9, 1933, states that the then owner was informed by Smetham’s widow that the picture was partially painted by Rossetti at the latter’s studio. The note continues “… when Mr. J Smetham went from his home at or near Hackney to continue the painting, Rossetti would point out something he had altered. A comparison of this picture with any other done by Smetham proves that most of this work was done by Rossetti”. Prettejohn and Gere, however, feel “the extent to which the picture may be a collaboration between the two artists is a moot point…In the light of current scholarship it has not been possible to precisely identify Rossetti's hand in the modelling of the face and the handling of the flesh tones. Perhaps Smetham, inspired and encouraged by Rossetti, produced this masterpiece unaided despite the anecdotal evidence cited above” (Christie’s, December 12, 2017, lot 21).— Dennis T. Lanigan

Links to Related Material

The Mandolin (watercolour and gouache version)

Bibliography

Maas, Jeremy. Pre-Raphaelitism. London: Maas Gallery, (November 1970), cat. 18, 4.

Prettejohn, Elizabeth and Charlotte Gere. Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art. London: Christie’s. (December 12, 2017) lot 21.

Last modified 23 March 2022