"A Despatch from Trezibond" by Henry Wallis

A Despatch from Trezibond. 1873. Oil on canvas, 36 x 541/4 inches (91.5 x 137.8 cm). Principal version, private collection. A Despatch from Trebizond. c.1873. Oil on canvas, 12 x 18 inches (30.5 x 45.7 cm). Initial sketch. Private collection. [Click on image to enlarge it.]

This is another in a series of works by Wallis influenced by Venetian High Renaissance painting. Unlike works by artists within the Rossetti circle, whose Venetian-inspired paintings tend to be “subjectless” in an Aesthetic manner, Wallis’s paintings retained the story-telling element associated with conventional history painting.

St. Marks Cathedral, Venice (Il Basilico di San Marco). Photograph by George P. Landow 2000.

John Christian in his entry for this picture in the Christie’s catalogue Victorian Pictures for November 2, 1990 commented on Wallis’s deep regard for St. Marks:

What the picture does reflect is Wallis’s interest in St Mark’s Venice, an interest which would lead him to serve as Honorary Secretary to the committee for the Preservation of St Mark’s from 1879 to 1882. The sweeping restoration of the Cathedral proposed and to some extent carried out at this time aroused great opposition in England. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, launched by William Morris in 1877, protested vigorously, and Burne-Jones was inspired to make the only public speech of his life (at Oxford in 1879). The figure of the courier is clearly inspired by Carpaccio, an artist who was receiving increasing attention in England at this time. G. F. Watts was struck by his work in 1853, Burne-Jones copied it extensively in 1859, and Ruskin ‘discovered’ Carpaccio in 1869. The picture’s background is taken from the south façade of St. Mark’s, where the wall is encrusted with Byzantine carvings looted from Constantinople in the 13th century, including the well-known porphyry group of Diocletian and his colleagues. Wallis’s rendering of all this is remarkably accurate.

[Click on images to enlarge them.]

A print of this subject was later engraved by George C. Finden and published by Virtue & Co. in The Art Journal in 1880. The publication discussed the print extensively:

During the fifteenth century Trebizond was one of the most important cities of Asia Minor, and though greatly distracted both by internal warfare and the attacks of surrounding enemies, the city was regarded as the centre of the extensive commerce carried on between merchants of the Venetian and Genoese republics, and the nations bordering the Euxine, or Black Sea. Greatly harassed they frequently were by the precarious condition of the government of the country which, about the year 1461, was surrendered by the brave monarch who fought for its freedom against the Sultan of Constantinople. In Mr. Wallis very striking picture – exhibited at the London Royal Academy in 1873 – he has painted an historical episode of no uncommon occurrence: a messenger from Trebizond is the bearer of intelligence much affecting two Venetian merchants, filling them with surprise and apprehension. One is evidently in great perplexity, but the other points out with eagerness something in the document that he appears to consider may yet give a favourable turn to the tide of affairs. The men of business, who may also be senators in the famous city of Venice, are seated against the wall of the Baptistery of St. Mark’s, an edifice wherein matters both of state and commerce were frequently discussed when the great Italian republics were in the height of their glory. The rich mosaics on the walls, the sculptures on the stone seats, and the well-known porphyry group of armed figures – generally accepted as Crusaders – greatly enrich a composition remarkably original both in conception and treatment. [140]

The existence of this print led to a recent discovery that two versions of the painting must exist. The second picture may be a smaller autograph copy but is more likely to be a sketch for the principal version. Ronald Lessens and I were unaware of this other version when our book on Wallis was published in 2019. On October 9, 2022 a copy of the known picture, listed as “after Henry Wallis,” sold at the New Orleans Auction Galleries, New Orleans, lot 755. This painting was again oil on canvas but was considerably smaller than the principal version at only 12 x 18 inches. If one compares this painting to the principal version exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1873 subtle differences can be noted, especially in the faces of the two Venetian merchants. This is particularly true in the face of the merchant to the far right who has a much more startled expression in the sketch. The faces of the two merchants, however, are identical to those of the engraving executed by George Finden in 1880. The print states that it was “taken from the picture in the possession of the publisher.” When Virtue & Co. decided to publish a print of the picture in 1880 likely the major version was unavailable to copy because a private collector already owned it. J. S. Virtue therefore likely bought the preliminary sketch Wallis had retained of the picture and this must be the picture that sold in New Orleans. It is highly unlikely that someone could have made this copy from the engraving and gotten the colours correct considering the print had been made seven years after the principal version had last been exhibited to the public. Another factor suggesting this is an autograph copy by Wallis is that it is almost an exact match in size for the known version of the painting’s companion piece Found at Naxos that at one time also belonged to Virtue & Co.

The Painting’s Reception

When the picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1873, no. 977, the Royal Academy catalogue contained the following quotation: “Some news is come that turns their countenances – Shakespeare” (Coriolanus, Act IV, Scene VI). On March 29, 1873 F. G. Stephens, in his column Fine Art Gossip for The Athenaeum, wrote a highly complimentary review even prior to the work being shown at the Royal Academy:

Mr. Henry Wallis has just finished a picture, entitled ‘A Despatch from Trebizond’, representing the lower part of the façade of St. Mark’s, with its coating of rich marbles and quaint carvings, and the bench of white marble, which forms part of the building on the south side of the western front. On this bench sit two Venetian merchants of high degree, both clad in the red and flowing garments of their class and nation. One of them holds a letter, and reads it with an expression of extreme dismay, while his partner, equally interested, leans over him, and traces with a finger the lines announcing ill-luck to the firm, thus calling attention to the weight of the misfortune which has befallen them. Hardly out of earshot stands the tall, dark, lithe, reckless-looking courier, who has been the messenger of evil tidings, attired in white breeches, fitting him like a second skin, a dark blue jerkin, slashed and laced so as to show his white shirt; his bushy black hair is crowned by a dark red mortier cap. With one foot place down the step of the marble bench, one hand clenched against his hip, and his eyes cast down, the man awaits the answer he must carry over sea and land, from Venice to Trebizond. [414].

On May 24, 1873 Stephens once again praised this work as one of the most successful in the Royal Academy exhibition:

Mr. Wallis’s Despatch from Trebisond (977), we have already mentioned, and now commend it to general attention. It is one of the most brilliant, original, and artistic pictures in the Exhibition. Two merchants of Venice are seated on a bench at St. Mark’s, reading a letter which has been delivered to them by a courier, who stands before us, waiting to take the answer from Venice to Trebizond, or whatever they may require. The merchants wear red robes and black caps, and their hair is “frizzed” in the mode of the 16th century in Italy. The “colour” produced by these costumes, and the lucid surfaces of the wall – to which the figures are opposed, - the marble being of diverse tints, are enriched with sculptures, - is superb. [667]

The critic for The Times also expressed his admiration for the handling of the picture and its design: “In the same room hangs one of the most complete pictures of the year, Mr. H. Wallis’s ‘Despatch from Trebizond’ (977), two Venetian merchant princes in costumes of the 14th century, of that red colour which has been christened from the city, on a seat with a dado of richly coloured marbles inlaid with old Lombard carvings, anxiously reading a letter of moment touching some venture of craft or cargo which has been brought to them by a sinewy and sun-burnt courier. The execution of the details, both of figures and architecture, in this design is among the completest in this year’s Exhibition” (6).

Links to Details of the Painting and Other Related Material

Bibliography

Christian, John, Victorian Pictures, Drawings and Watercolours. London: Christie’s, November 1, 1990, lot 296.

“The Despatch from Trebezond.” The Art Journal, New Series XIX (1880): 140.

Lessens, Ronald and Dennis T. Lanigan. Henry Wallis. From Pre-Raphaelite Painter to Collector/Connoisseur. Woodbridge: ACC Art Books, 2019, cat. 95 & 95a, 129-30.

Stephens, Frederic George. “Fine Art Gossip.“ The Athenaeum, no. 2370 (March 29, 1873): 414.

Stephens, Frederic George. “Fine Arts. The Royal Academy.“ The Athenaeum, no. 2378 (May 24, 1873): 665-67.

“The Royal Academy.” The Times (May 19,1873): 6.

Created 12 October 2021