HUGHES (ARTHUR) The remaining archive relating to the Pre-Raphaelite artist, Arthur Hughes (1832...

HUGHES (ARTHUR) The remaining archive relating to the Pre-Raphaelite artist, Arthur Hughes (1832-1915), assembled by art historian, Dr Leslie Cowan, including a panel painting and sketches, comprising: i) Study for Arthur Hughes' 'La Belle Dame sans Merci', oil on panel, unsigned, label of artist's supplier Charles Roberson & Co. on reverse, 326 x 227mm., [c.1863]; with three pen and ink sketches by Arthur Hughes for the Oxford Union Murals: Hughes' 'The Passing of Arthur', signed with his monogram, Rossetti's 'Sir Lancelot's Vision of the Holy Grail', and Burne-Jones' 'Merlin and Nimue', all annotated by Hughes ('The Passing of Arthur', 'Qu. Gwenevere resting against an apple tree looking towards Launcelot', 'Nimue enchantress having Merlin's book beguiling him into a well'), pen, ink and pencil, each torn from a larger sheet, 8vo (100 x 158mm.), [c.1857-1858] ii) Correspondence from Arthur Hughes to various recipients, including some 28 autograph letters signed ('Arthur Hughes') to his old friend Judge Vernon Lushington and his daughter, on his painting ('...a little picture of a knight grinding his sword with a stone, which I call Rust... the background of which I painted at Penkill...'), sending verses (one a riddle), with poetic descriptions of landscapes, a description of Holman Hunt's funeral ('...a most beautiful pall made of sewn bay leaves... crowned at top by glorious lilies...'), on seeing a pack of scouts ('...all over the land – being taught to be smart and ready, and sensible... It is a good thing!...'), flamingos ('...Albert Goodwin once described to me how he saw them in flocks lining out the banks of the Nile...'), travel, making arrangements, two illustrated; with c.17 envelopes, c.88 pages, 8vo (152 x 100mm.), Kew Green, Cornwall, Wandle Bank, 29 May [18]87 to 28 November 1911; with letters to Mr & Mrs Tugwell (6), Alice Boyd (1), Mrs Massingberd (1, with two pen and ink sketches); with three autograph poems signed with monogram, one beginning '...Three happy children by the sea...' and illustrated, 4to, 8vo, [n.d.] iii) Series of 24 autograph letters from Irish poet William Allingham signed ('William Allingham', 'W Allingham', 'WA'), to William Michael Rossetti, on books, art and poetry ('...Any art news, especially of the doings of your circle, will always be very welcome... How many PRB pictures altogether are to be next year to exasperate the critical owls?...'), on his poem Music Master ('...to treat of simple human love, of the impulsive sort, in such a manner as to raise it completely into the Spiritual... my wish was to work it out as unobtrusively as possible...'), advising on Rossetti's painting The Queen's Page ('...I hope it won't be decided to make the page too green...'), and much else, over 100 pages, dust-staining and marks, 8vo (180 x 114mm.), Ballyshannon, Lymington, 17 August [18]50 to 23 January 1870 iv) Papers relating to the Boyd family of Penkill (see lot 67), comprising: a watercolour sketch by William Bell Scott, depicting a gentleman and two ladies enjoying a picnic on the beach, titled 'Eve of Birthday 1883', signed in red crayon with initials ('W.B.S.'), with note on reverse in another hand, one vertical fold, remains of glue on reverse where removed from album, oblong 8vo (125 x 163mm.); with autograph letter from William Bell Scott signed ('William Bell Scott'), to William Michael Rossetti, has taken to his bed over the stress of selling his collections and mentioning the case of Annie Miller, Rossetti's ex-model who found herself in court, 3 pages on a bifolium, 8vo (180 x 112mm.), Penkill, 6 February 1890; eight autograph letters from Anglo-American printmaker and Chartist William James Linton signed ('W.J. Linton'), to Alice Boyd of Penkill ('My very dear Friend'), on books, Swinburne ('...he sent me the most surprizing letter of boyish abuse...'), sending her a copy of European Republicans, on his love for Penkill; with envelope, 24 pages, 8vo and 12mo, New Haven, 13 December 1892 to 17 April 1893; with manuscript diary in an unknown female hand (likely a relative of artist Alice Boyd), detailing day-to-day life at Penkill Castle, including rides out with Spencer and Alice, a visit to Chatsworth, calling on neighbours, and much else, 36 leaves, marbled wrappers, 8vo (165 x 105mm.), 16 May 1853 to 13 February 1854 v) Group of 14 cabinet photographs, depicting William Holman Hunt, William Bell Scott, Val Prinsep, Frederic Shields and others, by Elliott & Fry, H. S. Mendelsohn, Haigh & Hemery, etc., ten 104 x 63mm., four 167 x 108mm., [late nineteenth-century] vi) Exhibition catalogue 'Pictures, Drawings, Designs and Studies by the Late Dante Gabriel Rossetti', Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1883, ownership inscription of William Michael Rossetti and additional note 'from Christina's books 1894' in ink on inside front cover, rebound in marbled boards, 4to; collection of printed articles from publications such as The Connoisseur, Free Russia, Women's Suffrage Record, Secular Education Chronicle, bound together with handwritten index and ownership inscription of William Michael Rossetti, later note from his daughter dated 1919, [1891-1909]; together with eight autograph letters to Miss Susan Lushington from various correspondents including Arthur Foord Hughes and Arthur Balfour, c.12 pages, 8vo,, [c.1896-1942]; miscellaneous papers including receipt for 'Uncertainty' by Hughes, from Elysee Galleries made out to Miss Fearon, Wandle Bank, dated 1894; typed inventories; letters from Cecily Hale White to Miss Lushington, other lists and notes by Cowan (quantity) Footnotes: According to Stephen Wildman in his introduction to Hughes' catalogue raisonné, Arthur Hughes was '...the best of the younger followers of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood...' (Leonard Roberts, Arthur Hughes, His Life & Works, 1997). Letters and papers from Hughes are scarce as, after his death in 1915, his daughter Emily undertook an '...appallingly ruthless purge of personal papers...' (Roberts, p.9). The present archive was assembled by Leslie Cowan, a great champion of Hughes, who prepared an unpublished comprehensive dissertation on the artist and curated a major exhibition of Hughes at Cardiff and Leighton House in 1971. Despite being seen by contemporaries and critics as one who never quite fulfilled his early promise, Hughes is nevertheless admired for a few major works which epitomise Pre-Raphaelite themes and techniques. Our work on panel is not mentioned in the Hughes catalogue raisonné, but would appear to be a small preliminary sketch in oils relating to his 1861-1863 painting La Belle Dame Sans Merci (no.53, p.150-152, illustrated plate 33). The three line drawings in the collection depict the decoration scheme for the Debating Chamber (now the Library) of the Oxford Union, for which he collaborated with Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Val Prinsep and Spencer Stanhope in 1857. The archive also includes a large group of personal letters to Judge Vernon Lushington, a great supporter and patron of the Pre-Raphaelite artists (it was he who introduced Burne-Jones to Rossetti) and for whom Hughes painted The Home Quartette: Mrs Vernon Lushington and Children in 1882-1883. Lushington's wife Jane, also painted by Hughes, was Virginia Woolf's model for Mrs Dalloway. Provenance: Dr Leslie Cowan (1929-2021); thence by descent to the present owner. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing