George John Pinwell (British, 1842-1875)The Elixir of Love signed and dated 'G J Pinwell/70' (lower left); further signed, titled and inscribed with artist's address 'N1. The Elixir of Love/GJPinwell/52 Adelaide Rd/NW' (on artist label attached to the reverse)watercolour and bodycolour45 x 105.5cm (17 11/16 x 41 9/16in).together with a preparatory watercolour sketch of the same subject (14.5 x 24cm) and an engraving of the subject by Robert Walker Macbeth. (3)Footnotes:ProvenanceErnest Gambart (1814–1902).His sale, Christie's, London, 31 March –1 April 1871, lot 195 (260 guineas to Tooth).Arthur Tooth & Co., London.Thomas Wood, 2 Mandeville Place, London.Ludwig Messel (1847–1915).Sharpley Bainbridge (1845–1921).His sale, Christie's, London, 10 February 1922, lot 88 (640 guineas to Thomas Agnew & Sons).Thomas Agnew & Sons, London.Frost & Reed, London and Bristol.Private collection, UK.ExhibitedLondon, Royal Watercolour Society, 1870. no.114.London, Deschamps Gallery, Exhibition of Works by the Late G. J. Pinwell, 1876, no.70 (lent by Wood).London, Royal Academy of Arts, Winter Exhibition, 1901, no. 124 (lent by Messel).Glasgow, International Exhibition, 1901 no. 1102 (lent by Bainbridge).Literature'Society of Painters in Watercolours, 5 Pall Mall East: Private View', The Era, 24 April 1870, p. 14.'Old Watercolour Society', The Times, 27 April 1870, p. 4.'Fine Arts: The Society of Painters in Watercolours', Illustrated London News, 30 April 1870, p. 458.G. C. Williamson, George J. Pinwell and His Works, London,1900, pp. 20, 40, 58, 66, 150.Donato Esposito, Frederick Walker and the Idyllists, London, 2017, pp. 62, 64, 72–73, 82, 86, 88, 89.The present watercolour was based on a poem, with the same title, about the properties of a love potion offered by an unscrupulous, but convincing, salesman. The first two verses describe its attractive qualities:'Buy,—who'll buy!' In the market-place,Out of the market din and clatter,The quack with his puckered persuasive face,Patters away in the ancient patter.'Buy,—who'll buy!' In this flask I hold,—In this little flask that I tap with my stick,sir,Is the famed infallible Water of Gold,—The One, Original, True Elixir!Set in the distant past, the medieval period judging by the clothes, Pinwell has conjured a throng of needy recipients for such a potion, and a wide variety of figures, in age and status, are depicted in this lively urban scene. Leading up the enthralled group of would-be buyers are a pair of young women who gaze at the mesmeric glass phial before them. One of these females is modelled on the artist's sister-in-law, a favourite model.Pinwell, a leading Idyllist, had begun his career as an illustrator. In 1865 he shifted tack and submitted a watercolour to the Dudley Gallery, London. Based on Oliver Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, it is now in the British Museum, London (inv. PD 1967,1014.131) and was the first of many successful submissions to come. He showed work there for several more years but in 1869 sent his first watercolour to the older, more prestigious and lucrative Royal Watercolour Society. The present work came at an important time for the artist, and 1870 proved to an important year for Pinwell. The year before, on 3 April 1869, he had been elected an associate of the Royal Watercolour Society. His rise in the institution was rapid and by the following year in the wake of the success of The Elixir of Love he was elected a full member.The work was Pinwell's largest watercolour to date and was met with near universal praise. The Illustrated London News noted the 'exquisite sense of beauty and character evinced in all the faces, and the consummately delicate precision of the draughtsmanship.' The critic of The Times thought it displayed many 'uncommon merits qualified by some serious defects' but conceded that it was marked by a 'singular tenderness and beauty.' But the long column inches of The Era were unequivocal in declaring it 'the picture of all pictures.' In conclusion the same critic contended that The Elixir of Love evidenced the 'highest form of art ... and makes us live in a purer and sweeter atmosphere.' The work was one of Pinwell's best-known works and was exhibited several times after his early death. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of his passing in 1875 the dealer Arthur Tooth & Co. commissioned fellow Idyllist Robert Walker Macbeth (1848–1910) to translate the watercolour into a large etching. The print was duly published in 1885.Williamson lists an untraced reduced watercolour version of the present work as 'unfinished' and having once been owned by Edward Dalziel (1817–1905), of the celebrated firm of printmakers and publishers. It measured 11 x 25 inches and was sold at Pinwell's estate sale in 1876 for 31 guineas (to Dalziel), suggesting some level of finish. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has a preparatory drawing in graphite for The Elixir of Love (inv. 55.2713), and was one of several such studies for the present work, that had once belonged to the keen Idyllist art collector and bibliophile Harold Hartley (1851–1943).We are grateful to Donato Esposito for compiling this catalogue entry.Saleroom notices:Please note that since the publication of the catalogue, further research indicates that the present lot was not exhibited at The Royal Academy in 1901 and was not in the possession of Ludwig Messel, as stated.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com