Whistler portrait smashes estimate

James McNeill Whistler’s first portrait commission, Portrait of Lucas Alexander Ionides, achieved £406,800 against an estimate of £80,000-120,000 at Bonhams’ recent 19th-Century British and Impressionist Art sale on 25 September at Bonhams New Bond Street, London.

It was the first time that the work has been on the market in nearly 60 years.

After moving from Paris to London in May 1859, the American painter James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) settled in Newman Street in London’s historic artists’ quarter. It was here, between 1859-1860 over the course of six months, that he painted his first portrait commission, Portrait of Lucas Alexander Ionides.

The work was commissioned by Alexander Constantine Ionides, Lucas’ father. The Ionides family, a merchant trading family of Greek origin, were patrons of the arts in London, and became life-long patrons and friends of Whistler. Lucas Ionides wrote tenderly of the artist in his memoir, Memories, published in 1924. The original typed manuscript for Memories by Lucas Alexander Ionides was sold together with the portrait.

Charles O’Brien, Head of 19th-Century British and Impressionist Art, commented: “Having been in private hands since it was painted in 1859, this was the first time Whistler’s Portrait of Lucas Alexander Ionides had ever been offered at auction, and so it is no surprise there was so much interest. This work is an outstanding demonstration of Whistler’s early talent for portraiture, as well as revealing the tenderness for his friend.”

Portrait of Lucas Alexander Ionides hung in the Ionides home at Tulse Hill, followed by their home at 1 Holland Park in 1864. It remained there until it was left to Lucas’ son Cyril in 1924. It was in the possession successively of four generations of the Ionides family, until 1968 when it was sold by Hugo Meynell Ionides to Michael Carruthers, in whose family collection it has remained. In 1960, it was included in the important Arts Council exhibition on Whistler in London, and was subsequently shown in New York, but has not been exhibited in public since then.

Additional highlights of the sale included:

• Nikolai Fechin (Russian, 1881-1955), Portrait of Mademoiselle Ductor, oil on canvas. Sold for £356,000.
• John Atkinson Grimshaw (British, 1836-1893), A Golden Idyll, oil on canvas. Sold for £190,000.
• Ladislas Wladislaw von Czachorski (Polish, 1850-1911), A short story. Sold for £165,500.
• James Tissot (French, 1836-1902), A Tryst a Riverside Café, oil on canvas. Sold for £121,000.