719. Charles Ricketts and The Vasari Society (3)

The brief articles Ricketts wrote for the Vasari Society featured artists he often mentioned in his books The Prado or Titian, or in reviews and articles in magazines and newspapers. However, there are a few names that do not appear elsewhere in his work.  

Alfred Stevens

The British sculptor Alfred Stevens (1817-1875) was not an irregular topic of conversation for Ricketts and Shannon, but he never wrote an article about his work. In 1915, D.S. MacColl wrote the introduction to an exhibition catalogue for the National Gallery: Catalogue of Cartoons, Paintings and Drawings by Alfred Stevens for the Decoration for the Dining Room at Dorchester House. These works were lent by George Holford and Alfred Drury.

The Dining Room in Dorchester House
with the chimneypiece by Alfred Stevens on the left side of the room (c. 1905)

The drawing reproduced in the first part of the Second Series of The Vasari Society was lent by Alfred Drury, ‘Study of a Nude Women’, and Ricketts's piece was a cautious one:

This drawing is late in the career of the artist; it may have been done in preparation for some part of the decoration intended for Dorchester House: the workmanship approximates to that period of Stevens's activity. The figure holds an indefinite object -- possibly an urn.

Gravelot

A name that doesn't seem to show up anywhere else in Ricketts's work (including letters) is that of the late 18th-century French rococo book illustrator, engraver, painter and draughtsman Hubert-François Bourguignon, commonly known as Gravelot (1699-1773). He worked in London from 1732 to 1745.

For The Vasari Society, Ricketts discussed a drawing from the collection of the National Gallery of Scotland, 'Man in Flowing Wig Showing a Picture to a Lady with Fan':

This graceful sketch combines something of the France of Watteau and the England of Hogarth, and evokes, in its manner and technique, something which Gainsborough will realize better and with a more spontaneous ability; it might illustrate the De Goncourt's definition of a portion of Gravelot's works, 'touchés dans une manière de dessin légère et claire, dans un esprit d'Hogarth coquet.' It is more than probable that this drawing was executed in England, the character of the lady's dress pointing to this.

Nowadays, the undated drawing is called 'A Fair Connoisseur'.

Hubert-François-Bourguignon Gravelot, 'A Fair Connoisseur' (undated)
[Photo: National Gallery of Scotland,
see: National Gallery of Scotland website]