WHEN I was new to the hacking trade and had written disobligingly about another newspaper, a battle-scarred editor told me—more forcefully—‘never rubbish the opposition unless you are sure of your facts’. Well, here is a case in which I am sure enough to rubbish anyone, but instead gently question the opinions of a couple of auctioneers and at least two bidders. I was a saleroom cataloguer at a still earlier stage in my career and it was drummed into us that we must really look at what we were describing. That may seem obvious, but it does not always happen.
As an illustration of. The first thing to do is to look at the back. Are there any informative labels or marks? In this case, with Mallams’s own stickers, there is a chalked date that may indicate a previous sale. Another point to note is that, although there are supporters in the inner corners of the frame, the stretcher has no similar wedges, usual in the 19th century. The shadowy images of the composition show that the painter did not prepare the canvas with a ground.
