The c.1838 watercolour, which is painted on rag paper, took a hammer price of £40,550, just over its top estimate, in an online sale that closed on Sunday. The majority of the bidding took place in the final 15 minutes before the end of the timed auction. It was bought by a private UK art investor who plans to carry out further research into the work.
The 15 x 13in (38 x 33cm) painting was originally offered for sale at JP Humbert in 2012 but was withdrawn in order to investigate the provenance of the portrait and identity of the sitters.
The catalogue entry, which labels the work a ‘feminist masterpiece’, says ‘there is painted reference to jewellery known to have belonged to the girls’ and that ‘leading Landseer authority’ Richard Ormond, former director of the National Maritime Museum, has concluded it is ‘undoubtedly related’ to an 1836 pastel drawing by Landseer of the same subject.
Landseer (1802-73) was an English painter and sculptor remembered particularly for designing the four bronze lions in Trafalgar Square. The catalogue entry notes that a ‘faint monogram EL’ could indicate the artist’s hand.
The 19th century literary sisters, Anne, Emily and Charlotte Brontë, have one known portrait which was completed by their brother Branwell and hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
