20/11/2001
by Alex Kearney

On the 14^thof June this year, Johann Zoffany’s (1733-1810) conversation piece, The Dutton Family (in the Drawing Room, Sherbourne Park, Gloucestershire), (oil on canvas, 101.5 x 127 cm) set a new record price for the artist when it sold at Sotheby’s London. The conversation piece, an engaging and inventive form of group portraiture, was a genre at which the German-born Zoffany excelled, and buyers, then as now, have traditionally been willing to pay considerably more for these rich slices of family life. Sotheby’s proudly trumpeted The Dutton Family, painted in 1771 some ten years after Zoffany’s arrival in England, as his "greatest work and one of the finest conversation pieces of the 18^th century". Nonetheless, the British 18^th century portrait is not the market darling it once was, and the Dutton Family’s official pre-auction estimate of $ 4.3-5.8 million (€ 4.8-6.5 million) seemed rather steep for a painting with not a sweet little child in sight. A two-man contest between Sotheby’s Deputy Chairman, James Miller and London dealer, Guy Morrison, ended with victory for Morrison’s anonymous client and a hammer price of $ 4.6 million (€ 5.1 million).

Previous results for Zoffany’s conversation pieces have consistently performed well, if somewhat unspectacularly. A Portrait of Henry Knight of Tythegston (1738-1772) with his children (oil on canvas, 236 x 146 cm) made a hammer price of $ 1.4 million (€ 1.2 million) just over its estimate at Sotheby’s, London on the 8^th of June 1999. Almost exactly a year earlier at the same location, a Portrait of George Fitzgerald with sons George and Charles (oil on canvas, 100 x 126 cm) was hammered at $ 1.27 million (€ 1.4 million) against an estimate of $ 1.1 million-1.7 million (€ 1.2-1.9 million) on the 9^th of June 1998. Could The Dutton Family sale herald a resurgence in Zoffany’s market? Sotheby’s, who have handled many of the significant Zoffany sales in the last few years, certainly seem to think so. On the 29^th of November, they will be offering another theatrically-themed picture, Garrick with Burton and Palmer in the Alchymist, an oil on canvas, measuring 105 x 100 cm, with an estimate of a $ 580,000-797,100 (€ 651,180-894,880). Next to his conversation pieces, Zoffany’s theatrical pictures are among his most distinctive works and were first commissioned by the actor-manager David Garrick (1717-1779), who helped launch the artist’s English career, after his arrival in London. The Garrick Club in London already owns Johann Zoffany’s 1768 oil on canvas David Garrick and Mrs. Pritchard in "Macbeth," and so Sotheby’s will surely be imploring it to buy another. However the subject matter of Garrick with Burton and Palmer in the Alchymist is perhaps too obscure (a scene from a play written by Ben Johnson in 1601) for today’s market and with the composition unbalanced, it is likely that it will sell within its estimate, but nothing more.

Prices for single figure portraits are strikingly modest compared to multi-figured compositions, and often fall short of estimates. On the 22^nd of March 2000, a Portrait of a Nobleman (oil on canvas, 75 x 62) achieved a hammer price of just $ 18,830 (€ 21,140) against an estimate of $ 21,730-28,970 (€ 24,390-32,520). However an exotic subject can drive up estimates considerably. In 1783, Zoffany travelled to India to pursue new patrons and, six years later, returned to England a wealthy man. Though his Indian palette lacks the lustrous sheen of his earlier years, a Portrait of the Nawab Asuf-Ud-Daula, (oil on canvas, 41 x 32 cm) still raised a very respectable $ 86,920 (€ 97,580) against an estimate of $ 86,920-115,870 (€ 97,580-130,100) at Sotheby’s, London on the 25^th of November 1998.

Attributed works (rather than affirmed originals) with high estimates are more risky propositions. On the 22^nd of May 1997 a Portrait of a Man, said to be George, First Earl MacCartney (attributed to Zoffany, oil on canvas, 72 x 59 cm) was offered with an estimate of $ 15,000-20,000 (€ 16,840-22,450) at Sotheby’s, New York but found no takers. Copies and works by emulators fetch predictably lower prices but have exceeded estimates on occasion. A conversation piece painted after Zoffany, The Auriol and Dashwood Families (oil on canvas, 135 x 195 cm) more than doubled its maximum estimate of $ 3,340 (€ 3,750) to sell for $ 9,850 (€ 11,060) at Christie’s, London on the 1^st of March 1991. As the original had been exhibited in London’s National Portrait Gallery in 1990, this may have helped push up prices the following year. The jury is still out on whether Zoffany’s prices will rise further, but if conversation pieces comparable in quality to the Dutton Family (as opposed to run-of-the-mill portraits) are offered, competition will be fierce.