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The Emmanuel Rodrigue Collection by Christopher Wood I first met Emmanuel Rodrigue and his first wife Nicole in 1976. I was then running the Alexander Gallery in Sloane Street. They saw in the window a picture by Jane Maria Bowkett The Sea Front. Although they did not know the artist, and had not hitherto bought any English paintings, they bought the picture, and in the next thirty years, went on to buy many more, including works by Atkinson Grimshaw, Tissot and Frith. Like many collectors in the 1960's and 70's, they liked narrative scenes, pictures which reflected the tastes, habits and social mores of the Victorian age. The Rodrigues also liked anything slightly naïve or primitive, and were not worried about pictures being signed, or attributed. They bought what they liked, and had the confidence to do so. Later I visited the Rodrigues in Paris, and saw in their apartment a fascinating mixture of English and French pictures, mixed up with all kinds of furniture, objects, and mechanical toys. It was a riotously eclectic mixture, the accumulation of a true collector and connoisseur. It was very unusual to find a French collector who liked Victorian pictures, and it still is. The other important ingredient in the Rodrigues' collection was humour, which I saw manifested in his collection of Parisian scenes by Albert Guillaume. Every collection should be enlivened by a touch of humour, reminding us that collecting is not a deadly serious activity - it has to be fun. So I trust the buyers of the Rodrigues' pictures will have the same fun as they obviously had collecting them.

English School, 19th Century

The porch

Details

English School, 19th Century
The porch
oil on canvas
17 x 21 in. (43.3 x 53.3 cm.)

Special Notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

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