25th Jun, 2024 10:00
Old Master, British and European Art
201
Attributed to Sir George Back (1796-1878)
'A Buffalo Pond';
'Manner of Making a Resting Place on a Winter Night'
a pair, both inscribed with title, and dated '8th Feby.1820' and '15th March 1820' respectively, pen and brown ink and wash
13 x 19cm (2)
Sir George Back was a British naval officer, explorer, naturalist and artist, who helped to trace the Arctic coastline of North America.
His naval career began in 1808, when he joined HMS 'Arethusa'; he saw action off Cherbourg before being captured by the French near San Sebastian in 1809. He spent five years in prison before returning to England and joining HMS 'Akbar', which was stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as midshipman. After volunteering for service under Commanders Buchan and Ross on 'Dorothea' and 'Trent' in 1818, in a failed attempt to cross the Arctic Ocean from Spitzbergen, he came into contact with the explorer John Franklin, commanding officer of the 'Trent', who was impressed by his usefulness as an artist. In May 1819 he set out with Franklin on the Hudson's Bay Company ship 'Prince of Wales' for York Factory. They spent the following winter at Cumberland House, the first inland port established by the company, and these two drawings are clearly among those he produced during that stay.
In 1821-22 and again in 1825-27 he accompanied Franklin to Canada’s Northwest Territories. Back’s drawings are illustrated as engravings in Franklin’s narrative of the latter expedition, and some of the original drawings have appeared at auction in recent years. He returned to the same region on two expeditions of his own, the first in 1833 to search for John Ross, who had disappeared on a voyage four years earlier, and he went on to explore the Great Fish River, now renamed the Back River. He returned in 1836 to explore the coastal region east of the mouth of the river, and his journey is recorded in his 'Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition to the Mouth of the Great Fish River'.
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Sold for £2,000
Condition Report
Overall: 26 x 32cm
Time staining. 'A Buffalo Pond' has light surface dirt and smudging to the sky. There is faint brown staining to the bottom left edge and the work is possibly slightly faded, please see images. Both works have been stuck down to a sheet of paper behind. Viewed out of the frame there is some discolouration to to the top and right edges of 'A Buffalo Pond', please see additional condition images.
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Auction: Old Master, British and European Art, 25th Jun, 2024
Viewing
London Viewing | Highlights
A selection of lots will be on view Thursday 6 - Thursday 13 June at our London Gallery, 15 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4EZ, as follows:
Monday-Friday, 11.30am - 5.30pm
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Stansted Viewing | Auction
Viewing will be held at our Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet CM24 8GE, as follows:
Friday 21 June, 10am - 4pm
Sunday 23 June, 10am - 1pm
Monday 24 June, 10am - 4pm
The auction will take place at our Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet CM24 8GE.
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