J.W. Waterhouse

Bizarre timing for this - we were just on the topic of Touchstone this week - Other than being signed J Waterhouse in the right hand corner, any idea of provenance for this watercolor?

[img size=300]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc209/speruoc/9576.jpg[/img] [img size=300]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc209/speruoc/9313.jpg[/img] This is John Martin-Harvey. I wasn't aware of his existence until today. The Touchstone nagged at me and I got an idea and googled it and up he popped. I'm not saying that the sketch of Touchstone is of Harvey, but he was a young member of Henry Irving's troupe, which was well known to Nino. The watercolor sketch, for those who have not seen it, has a costume similar to the top photograph, and the young man has a similar face. The sketch is so like a theatre professional's sketch, like a costumer's design. I don't have any inkling about it, one way or another. Interesting that Touchstone is made dark and brooding. He looks more like a Hamlet than a jester. It's excellent.

The picture sold for $6250...

Provenance for the watercolour is as follows: Sale: Sotheby's, New York, May 26, 1993, lot 286 The Maas Gallery, Ltd., London Acquired by the present owner from the above Ness is correct in pointing out that the subject is not 'Touchstone the Jester' - Touchstone is invariably depicted brandishing his jesting stick. This figure is wearing a mediaeval cowl, but not typical jester clothes. I very much doubt the attribution to Waterhouse. The style, subject matter and medium are atypical of his ouevre. It reminds me more of the work of Edwin Austin Abbey, who specialized in medieval figurative subjects throughout the 1890s and 1900s and had a number of followers who worked in a similar style. I suspect that someone has added the spurious signature at some point to make it more saleable. It obviously worked.

The figure does actually seem to be holding jester's bells in his lap - rather hard to see, but there. But it is a very unusual take on a jester . I wonder about doubts at Sotheby's since they left the signature off of the image. Or is it common to block off the signature?

The "J Waterhouse" signature is not on the image, but lower down on the right. It would be hidden by the mount, but a window has been added to display it. It does not appear to be in John William Waterhouse's handwriting. Every painting that I have seen of Touchstone by other artists shows him wearing a proper jester's hat with bells on and holding a jesting stick with a little model of his own head upon it. This man is not a jester, nor does he appear to be in good humour - but there is something funny about the attribution.

In earlier times, yes - but there have been some modern takes on Touchstone that bring out the darker sides of his character - one of the reasons this piece may not be a 19th century piece at all, even though the costume is similar to the one I found. I am disappointed that Sotheby's would be so careless in attributing a piece to a specific artist. It's a good piece, but the high value came from wrongly attributing it.