Sold for $11,430

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Lot Description

Thomas Brooks

(British, 1818-1891)

The Return (Saved from the Wreck), 1859

oil on canvas

signed Brooks. and dated (lower left)

36 1/2 x 72 1/4 inches.

This lot is located in Chicago.

Provenance:
Estate of Glenn Boyer
Sold: J Levine Auction & Appraisal, Phoenix, Arizona, April 17, 2014, Lot 1088
Sherry Rampy, acquired at the above sale
Gifted to the present owner by the above, 2018

Exhibited:
London, Royal Academy of the Arts, Ninety-Fourth Exhibition, 1862, no. 541

This dramatic painting depicts the return of a National Lifeboat Institution (R.N.L.I) ten-man oared lifeboat and seven survivors, as it endeavors to the safety of a stone quay. The lucky survivors have been rescued from a sailing vessel driven aground on rocks in a perilous stormy sea, seen just to the left in the distance off the end of the headland. Anxious villagers gather to welcome home the brave volunteer lifeboat men. Still in existence today, the R.N.L.I is the largest of the lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Island, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. Exhibited at the 1862 London Royal Academy of the Arts, the composition bears the original nautical themed-rope twist frame. The painting was later made into an engraving, along with a pendant work, titled The Departure (Launching the Life-Boat), by Frederick Hunter and published by Brook & Sons in 1871.

Condition Report

Framed: 48 1/2 x 84 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches.
Moderate deposits of surface dirt and dust; canvas is lined; a repaired tear faintly visible in the upper left corner, with areas of associated inpainting; areas of of paint separation scattered throughout; additional craquelures throughout the surface, mostly only visible under strong light; passages throughout exhibit thinly applied paint, possibly caused by a past cleaning; pinpoint brown stains scattered through the sky; an area of inpainting visible under normal viewing conditions in the center; one small raised area to the canvas surface, in the upper center. Under UV light: areas of inpainting scattered throughout, with the largest area approximately 15 x 10 inches, in the upper left corner; additional inpainting located in the upper right corner, within the left side of the rocky coast, areas within the waves, spots within the faces of the figures in the central left, and in the lower left corner. Please request additional images.

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