The Sale of the Scott Collection
The sale of the pictures collected by Sir David and Lady Scott was successfully conducted by Sotheby’s on 19th November, 2008. Their principal saleroom was bursting with people and a long line of telephones linked those who could not get there in person to the auction. The result was a vindication, if that were needed, of both the popularity of David and Valerie Scott and the widespread enjoyment and appreciation of the pictures they had collected. Not surprisingly, in such circumstances, new record prices were established for at least 14 artists. The most notable was the hammer price of £890,000 paid for Sophie Anderson’s enchanting No Walk Today. Equally outstanding were the prices paid for Christ in the House of His Parents by Sir John Millais and Rebecca Solomons. This was the second version of the famous picture now hanging in Tate Modern. It realised £510,000. Sir David had paid 1,200 guineas (£1,440) for it in 1969. William Dyce’s Welsh Landscape with Women Knitting, another of the great works in the collection, which originally cost £950, realised £450,000 – again a record price for this artist.
The paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints which had thickly covered the walls of the Dower House have now entered other collections. One has gone home: Winterhalter’s La Siesta
had been bought by Queen Victoria in 1841 and hung at Osborne House. Now, a century and a half later, it has been bought by one of Sir David’s favourite dealers, the Maas Gallery, on behalf of English Heritage who will return it to the Isle of Wight.
Nor was it just the Victorian paintings that created such excitement. The early 20th Century British paintings and drawings, often bought when still ‘wet’ by Sir David also attracted enthusiastic bidding. Groups of works by the almost forgotten Elwin Hawthorne and Harold Steggles, which formerly hung in the kitchen at the Dower House, outstripped all their estimates. So, too, the study for La Miltrailleuse by Christopher Nevinson for the painting now in Tate Britain. This small black and white drawing, measuring only 7 x 8 inches, doubled its ambitious estimate selling for a hammer price of £85,000.
Not only will the paintings now delight new collectors but the funds which have been raised, amounting to over £4,000,000, will be the financial bedrock on which the charitable work to be undertaken by the Foundation will be based.
The Trustees would like to thank Sotheby’s most warmly for arranging such a successful sale in a difficult economic climate and to all those who took part, buyers and underbidders alike. We hope you will enjoy the works as much as their past owners did.
Current projects
Alnwick Garden Trust
Denwick Lane,
Alnwick,
Northumberland NE66 1YU
www.alnwickgarden.com
The Garden House
Buckland Monachorum,
Yelverton,
Devon PL20 7LQ
www.thegardenhouse.org.uk
Horniman Museum and Gardens
100 London Road,
Forest Hill,
London SE23 3PQ
www.horniman.ac.uk
The Joy Mead Garden
Farthingstone,
Northamptonshire
www.farthingstone.org.uk – joymead
University of Reading
Whiteknights,
PO Box 217,
Reading RG6 6AH
www.reading.ac.uk
Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum
Clarence Street,
Cheltenham,
Glos GL50 3JT
www.cheltenhamartgallery.org.uk
Cecil Higgins Art Gallery
Castle Lane,
Bedford MK40 3XD
www.cecilhigginsartgallery.org
Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden
St Machar Drive,
Aberdeen AB24 3UU
www.abdn.ac.uk/botanic-garden/friends
Institute of Horticulture
Capel Manor College,
Bullsmoor Lane,
Enfield,
Middlesex EN1 4RQ
www.horticulture.org.uk
Back Care
16 Elmtree Road,
Teddington,
Middlesex TW11 8ST
www.backcare.org.uk
Gardening Leave
c/o Gardens Unit Scottish Agricultural College,
Auchincruive,
Ayr, Ayrshire KA6 5HW
www.gardeningleave.org
Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust
Achamore Gardens,
Isle of Gigha,
Argyll PA41 7AA
www.gigha.org.uk
The Kelmarsh Trust
Kelmarsh Hall,
Kelmarsh, Northampton NN6 9LY
www.kelmarsh.com
Parks and Gardens Data Services
Department of Archaeology,
King’s Manor,
York YO1 7EP
www.parksandgardens.ac.uk
Plant Heritage
12 Home Farm,
Losely Park,
Guildford,
Surrey GU3 1HS
www.nccpg.com
Queen Alexandra Hospital Home
Boundary Road,
Worthing,
West Sussex BN11 4LJ
www.qahh.org.uk
ROKPA Trust
Kagyu Samye Ling,
Eskdalemuir,
Langholm,
Dumfries & Galloway DG13 0QL
www.rokpauk.org
The Courtauld Institute of Art
Somerset House,
Strand,
London WC2R 0RN
www.courtauld.ac.uk
Great Dixter Charitable Trust
Great Dixter,
Northiam, Rye,
East Sussex TN31 6PH
www.greatdixter.co.uk
Hertfordshire Gardens Trust
Thundridge Hill House,
Cold Christmas Lane, Thundridge,
Hertfordshire SG12 0UF
www.hertsgardenstrust.org.uk
National Botanic Garden of Wales
Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire SA32 8HG
www.gardenofwales.org.uk
The Public Catalogue Foundation
33 Maiden Lane,
London WC2E 7JS
www.thepcf.org.uk
The Grange Centre
Rectory Lane,
Bookham,
Leatherhead,
Surrey KT23 4DZ
www.grangecentre.org.uk
Margaret Easter
– International Thymus Register and Checklist and The Big Book of Thyme
Tim Upson
Cambridge University Botanic Garden,
1 Brookside, Cambridge CB2 1JE
www.botanic.cam.ac.uk
Alnwick Garden Trust
The Alnwick Garden,
Denwick Lane,
Alnwick,
Northumberland NE66 1YU
www.Alnwickgarden.com
Fortescue Garden Trust
The Garden House,
Buckland Monachorum,
Yelverton,
Devon PL20 7LQ
www.thegardenhouse.org.uk
Greenfingers Charity
Willowbank House,
84 Station Road,
Marlow,
Bucks SL7 1NX
www.greenfingerscharity.org.uk
Institute of Horticulture
Capel Manor Cottage,
Bullsmoor Lane,
Enfield EN1 4RQ
www.horticulture.org.uk
Plant Network
New Museums Site,
Pembroke Street,
Cambridge CB2 3QH
www.plantnetwork.org
The University of Northampton
Park Campus,
Boughton Green Road,
Northampton NN2 7AL
www.northampton.ac.uk
The Victor Murphy Memorial Trust
3 Mayfield Gardens,
Edinburgh EH9 2AX
www.moritamuseum.org
The Holfords of Westonbirt Trust
Westonbirt House,
Westonbirt,
Tetbury,
Glos GL8 8QG
www.holfordtrust.com
Ashburnham Christian Trust
Ashburnham Place, Ashburnham, Battle, East Sussex TN33 9NF
www.ashburnham.org.uk
Friends of Urchfont Garden
Ogbourne Road, Aldbourne, Wiltshire SN8 2LD
Stanton-by-Dale Parochial Church Council
31 Stanhope Street, Stanton-by-Dale, Derbyshire DE7 4QA
Ventnor Botanic Garden Friends' Society
25 Zig Zag Road, Ventnor, Isle of Wight PO38 1BY
www.botanicfriends.org.uk
The University of Oxford Botanic Garden
Rose Lane,
Oxford,
OX1 4AZ
www.botanic-garden.ox.ac.uk
Headway North West London
Bentley Day Centre,
94 Uxbridge Road, Harrow,
Middlesex,
HA3 6DH
www.headway.org.uk
The Lindley Library of the Royal Horticultural Society
To fund research into the conservation of the Reeves collection of Chinese botanical paintings.
The RHS, 80, Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PE.
www.rhs.org.uk
The Watts Gallery
Down Lane,
Compton,
Surrey GU3 1DQ.
Tel: +44 (0) 1483 810235 -
Email: info@wattsgallery.org.uk
www.wattsgallery.org.uk
Professional Gardeners' Guild
www.pgg.org.uk
Turquoise Mountain
Tel: +44 (0) 1764 650 888 - Fax: +44 (0) 8707 617 024
Kabul Office +93 (0) 798 182028 - contact@turquoisemountain.org
www.turquoisemountain.org |
