Details
ATTRIBUTED TO HANNAH PALMER, NÉE LINNELL (BRITISH, 1818-1893)
The Flight into Egypt
oil on canvas
878 x 1214 in. (22.5 x 31.1 cm.)
Provenance
The Earl of Portsmouth.
Purchased from Roderic Thesiger, circa 1950 by
Sir Lawrence Gowing, and then by descent.
Literature
R. Lister, Samuel Palmer and 'The Ancients', exh. cat., Cambridge, 1984, p. 99, no. 148.
Exhibited
Exeter, Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery; Bristol, City Art Gallery; Wakefield, City Art Gallery; Newcastle, Hatton Gallery; Cambridge, Arts Council Gallery; Birmingham, City Museum and Art Gallery, Samuel Palmer and his Circle: The Shoreham Period, 29 October 1956 - 20 April 1957, no. 77, as 'Biblical Subject', as by John Linnell.
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Samuel Palmer and 'The Ancients', 9 October - 16 December 1984, no. 148, as by John Linnell.
Special notice
This lot is offered without reserve.
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.
Brought to you by
Alastair PlumbSenior Specialist, Head of Sale, European Art
A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.View condition report

Lot Essay

In his entry on The Flight into Egypt for the Samuel Palmer and 'The Ancients' exhibition in 1984, Raymond Lister notes that the technique for the painting is much more reminiscent of the known works of John Linnell's daughter, Hannah, who married Samuel Palmer. Lister describes the 'almost embroidered treatment of the trees' as a hallmark of Hannah's work which was also shown alongside the painting in the same exhibition. A note in Sir Lawrence Gowing's files mentions 'R. Lister suggests it is by Hannah Palmer. I agree.'
The other mystery surrounding the painting is the title - although it is tentatively called The Flight into Egypt - it seems, apart from the little group with the donkey on the hill at the left, to have little relationship to the subject. The distant towered city, the soldiers in the foreground and the girl climbing the tree are all lacking in most known treatments of the flight.

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Condition report

A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.