Eyre Crowe (1824-1910)

A painted sketch signed Ey. Crowe, December 14th-15th 1896, will be sold by Tennants Auctioneers of Leyburn on 16 August. It is described as ‘after Eyre Crowe’, but would on the face of it seem to be a painted sketch of the scene at Leeds Crown Court which was afterwards worked up into the finished oil painting Trial for Bigamy, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1897. On the back is pasted a black and white photograph of the 1897 painting as published in ‘Royal Academy Pictures’.

Reverse side of painting for sale through Tennants auctioneers, 2024

‘Forfeits’ by Eyre Crowe A.R.A. (1880)

Eyre Crowe’s 1880 genre work, Forfeits, is for sale at Christie’s in New York on 28 October 2019. The higher estimate, compared to other recent sales of Crowe’s work, probably reflects the charm, colour and quality of the scene. Ornate, wealthy interiors are rarely seen in Crowe’s paintings, although the arrangement of the figures in a line across the picture is a familiar technique.

I have been slow in updating this site recently, so here is an overview of what has been occurring in the world of Eyre Crowe’s artworks:

I was alerted to the publication in The Daily Graphic of a brief letter from Eyre Crowe and a sketch of steeplejacks repairing the steeple of Bromsgrove parish church. The item is listed under the title After The Great Gale: Repairing a Steeple (1891).

‘After the Great Gale: Repairing a Steeple’ by Eyre Crowe A.R.A. (1891)

Dr Johnson receiving Boswell in the Library (1899) has been purchased by a delighted private collector in Vancouver, Canada.

Landscape with stream and figures: The Lovers (1880) was auctioned in Texas in 2016 under the title ‘Courting’.

The owner of The meeting of Louis XI and Edward IV on the Bridge of Pecquigny (1855) has been kind enough to supply with a photograph of this fantastic painting, which is one of Eyre Crowe’s earliest large works.

‘The Meeting of Louis IX and Edward IV on the Bridge of Pecquigny’ by Eyre Crowe (1855)

Finally, three separate sets of sketches attributed to Eyre Crowe have come up for sale through various auction houses:

• Three Figure Studies (19 April 1901 and n.d.). Medium: charcoal and pencil heightened with white. Size: largest 47 x 22 cm. Offered by Bellmans Auctioneers and Valuers, Billingshurst, West Sussex, 5 March 2018 (Lot 1071)
• Eight sketches by Eyre Crowe, from the collection of Judith Adelman. Medium: pen and ink, pencil and wash. Size: various, largest 17 x 13 inches. Advertised in Weekly Internet Rare Books and Autographs Auctions #201537 by Heritage Auctions, 3-10 Sep 2015 (lot 92359)
• Fifteen Figure Studies in Two Frames (various dates). Medium: pen, ink and washes. Size: smallest 10 x 3 cm, largest 17 x 27 cm. Attributed to Eyre Crowe and offered for sale by Cuttlestone’s auctioneers, Penkridge, Fine Art and Antiques Sale, 23-24 Nov 2017 (Lot 61). However, the style of the sketches is not exactly reminiscent of Eyre Crowe’s work, and none are signed by him (as was his usual practise), so I doubt the attribution.

Thank you to all the owners who have contacted me about Eyre Crowe pictures – it is always fascinating to hear about paintings and sketches in private hands.

‘Drawing Lots For The Guelph Succession’ by Eyre Crowe A.R.A. (1896), image from Cuttlestones Auctioneers online sale catalogue, 2018

‘Drawing Lots For The Guelph Succession at Celle’ (1896) will appear in an auction of Fine Arts and Antiques at Penkridge Auction Rooms on 8 March 2018. It is being sold by Cuttlestones Auctioneers at the reserve price of £2,400.

The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1896, and in the autumn of the same year was shown at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. It was presumably sold around the same time, and disappeared into private hands until the death of its owner in 2014. By autumn 2016 it was owned by art dealer Brian Saunders, of Saunders Fine Art, who displayed it at the LAPADA and Olympia art shows.

Eyre Crowe returned in old age to the kind of historical scenes that had made his name in the 1860s, and liked to feel that he had done his research and presented historically accurate details. He visited Celle in the late summer of 1895 and undoubtedly sketched some of the details of the room there.

The online sale catalogue for the painting includes some further images, including close-ups of Crowe’s signature and the information on the gilt frame.