Tuesday 18 October 2016

'English School, 19th century" is by John Crawford Brown

DVC, from Gent, Belgium, sells on 22 October 2016 an "English School, 19th century, illegibly signed" "Shipwrecked", a large (102 by 143 cm) canvas estimated at 1,000 to 2,000 Euro.

A hard to read label at the back identifies the painter as John C. Brown RSA, which stands for John Crawford Brown (1805-1867), Glaswegian landscape, genre and historical painter who was relatively well-known in his time but who is nowadayw more obscure, perhaps due to the very small number of works by him that appear on the market. I'm usually wary of such labels on the back, which are an easier way to fake attribution and history, but in this case I see no reason to doubt it. It also identifies the subject as the wreck of the Spanish Armada.

In 1997, his "Return from Waterloo", of similar dimensions, was sold for £6,000 at Sotheby's. I would estimate this work at about the same price.

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