LONDON.- Bellmans will offer a superb selection of works from descendants of the seminal Ionides family collection. Among the paintings are a portrait of Isabella Ionides by family friend George Frederick Watts (est. £8,000 - £12,000) and a superb marine watercolour by Charles Napier Hemy (est. £2,000 - £4,000), both come to the market for the first time and will be part of the Autumn Old Master, British & European Paintings auction on the 15th October. Two fine pairs of late Ming dynasty cloisonné enamel lobed vases and a selection of bronze incense burners and further works which will be offered in the Asian and Interiors sales in September and November.
The collection, much of which was housed at the palatial 1 Holland Park, passed to George Alexander Ionides (B.1875) grandson of Alexander Constantine Ionides (1810-1890), founder of the eponymous wheat and textile trading firm which operated between London, Eastern Europe and the Near East. Alexander Constantine began to patronise a number of London artists from the 1830s and it was soon after that he met and befriended George Frederick Watts who would become a close friend, producing over fifty Ionides portraits, crossing five generations. The family moved to London for the first time in 1834, living at various addresses including 9 Finsbury Circus which became a meeting place for prominent artists of the time, before settling in the magnificent 1 Holland Park in 1864.
Alexander ‘Aleco’ Alexander Ionides (1840-1898) was Alexander Constantine’s third and youngest son. He studied in Paris where he befriended James Abbott McNeill Whistler and his circle, which included such luminaries as Edward John Poynter, Thomas Armstrong and George Du Maurier. Aleco added a number of important works by Whistler to the Ionides collection, including the seminal Arrangement in Grey – Portrait of the Painter (Detroit Museum of Art).
Aleco’s parents retired to Hastings in 1875 at which point the management of the collection at 1 Holland Park, which by now included exceptional works by Rosetti, Fantin-Latour, Alphonse Legros and Burne-Jones, whose Spring can be seen hung in a room adjacent to the present portrait of Isabella, was entrusted to Aleco. He employed Morris & Co to redecorate several rooms as well as commissioning Thomas Jeckyll to create a Japanese- style billiard room.
The portrait by Watts is likely to date from the 1880s and depicts Isabella Ionides in a serene manner while the semi-profile angle imbues the work with a sense of contemplative strength. Isabella was born near Marseille on 21st April 1853, to Ambrose and Penelope Sechiari. Watts was presumably commissioned by Aleco and the mutual affection between artist and family is reflected in the ease of Isabella’s pose and expression, creating a palpable sense of intimacy.
Charles Napier Hemy was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and trained at the city school of design before furthering his studies at the Antwerp Academy. Having spent a decade in London he moved to Falmouth in 1881. Here he depicted the lives of south coast fishermen, masterfully combining the intricate detail and techniques of the day with the inherent danger a life at sea entails.
This is powerfully illustrated in works such as Pilchards (1897, Tate Britain) and The Silent Adieu (1889, Williamson Art Gallery & Museum). Hemy adopts a close perspective that places the viewer in the midst of nautical action. Such immediacy is prevalent in Landing the Catch where the crucial moment that the fish is actually plucked from the water takes place within touching distance. The fishing boat is beautifully rendered, with its weather-beaten stern reflecting many years exposure to the elements, as are the fishermen themselves as they toil to make a living.
In 1900 following the death of Aleco’s eldest brother, Constantine Alexander (1833-1900), over 1100 paintings, watercolours and prints from the Ionides collection were bequeathed to the Victoria & Albert Museum. Along with those already mentioned, the collection included works by Tintoretto, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Louis le Nain, Delacroix, Rousseau, Corot, Degas and Millet making it one of the most significant artistic bequests in history.
