Lot 3
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Francis P. Osmaston (1857-1925), was a man of means who 'helped many struggling painters of his day'. He was also an accomplished musician and a prolific author, publishing several volumes of poetry, a play about Cromwell, a translation of Hegel's Philosophy of Fine Art , and two books on Tintoretto. The second (1910) was printed by James Guthrie at his Pear Tree Press at Flansham, Bognor. Guthrie may well have been a friend of Stock. Stock painted portraits of Osmaston himself (RI 1903), his wife and daughter, Dorothy, who was to marry the distinguished economist Walter Layton. His biography of her contains information about her father, and actually refers to the present series of pictures: 'for many years the walls of our homes carried the works of Ricketts and Shannon as well as a series of illustrations from the Book of Revelations which Mr Osmaston had commissioned from one of his protégés' (see Lord Layton, Dorothy , 1961, ch.2 and p.73). Stock's main interest was always imaginative subjects. These covered a wide field. If many were inspired by the Bible or literature (works based on Dante, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Goethe, Browning, William Morris and Whitman are recorded), others were symbolist themes typical of the period. Death-of-Love Plant , exhibited at the RI in 1896, might have come from the brain of Redon, and a group of works with musical themes - A Musician's Reverie (1888; Harrow School), Listening to Brahms (RA 1901) and ' In the Night' - Schumann (three versions exhibited 1908-27) - recall well-known paintings of the early 1880s by Ensor and Fernand Khnopff. Stock's visual sources were equally diverse. There are passages in his work which suggest that he looked at the Pre-Raphaelites and C.H. Shannon. At least an interest in Rembrandt is betrayed by an uncharacteristic subject, Rembrandt painting Saskia , which he showed at the RI in 1919. But the great influences on him were Blake and G.F. Watts. With Blake he may have felt some sense of personal identity, perhaps related to the fact that, like the great visionary, he was born in Soho. In 1909 he was to leave London and settle at Felpham, near Bognor, on the Sussex coast; and while a move to the country may have been dictated by the need to live more cheaply to enable him to concentrate on subject pictures (portraits almost disappear from his exhibited works about this time), his choice of Felpham was surely inspired by the knowledge that Blake had lived there under the patronage of William Hayley during the years 1800-1803. Certainly the impact of Blake on his work is marked, not so much in terms of style as in his choice of subjects. Notable examples are two paintings of Good and Evil Spirits fighting for Man's Soul (RA 1879 and 1882), Elohim (private collection), a watercolour of 1904 which was included in the Last Romantics exhibition at the Barbican in 1989 (no.120; repr. in cat.), Job's Vision (RI 1909), and the series of illustrations to the Book of Revelation and Dante's Inferno, some of which are offered for sale here (see lots 3, 10, 45 and 70)
HENRY JOHN STOCK (1853-1930)

'And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth' (Rev. IX - 1)

    Price Realised GBP 13,860
    Estimate
    GBP 1,500 - GBP 2,000
    Closed: 14 Jul 2022
    HENRY JOHN STOCK (1853-1930)

    'And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth' (Rev. IX - 1)

    Price Realised GBP 13,860
    Closed: 14 Jul 2022
    Price Realised GBP 13,860
    Closed: 14 Jul 2022
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    HENRY JOHN STOCK (1853-1930)
    'And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth' (Rev. IX - 1)

    signed and dated '1902/ H.J. STOCK.' (lower left) and further signed and inscribed 'And I saw a Star fall. from heaven unto the/ Earth./ Rev. IX.1./ Henry J. Stock' (on an old label attached to the backboard)
    pencil and watercolour heightened with bodycolour on paper
    131⁄8 x 91⁄4 in. (33.3 x 23.5 cm.)
    Provenance
    Acquired from the artist by Francis P. Osmaston, and thence by descent.
    Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 4 November 1994, lot 58, where purchased by the present owner.
    Special notice
    This lot is offered without reserve.
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