Paul Sandby, R.A. (Nottingham 1730-1809 London)
Lot 156

Paul Sandby, R.A. (Nottingham 1730-1809 London)

The Onion Seller

Closed2 December 2014

Price Realised

GBP 3,000

More Information

How to sell

Paul Sandby, R.A. (Nottingham 1730-1809 London)
The Onion Seller
pencil and grey and ochre wash
7 3/8 x 4 7/8 in. (18.2 x 12.5 cm.)

Lord Bruce (later Lord Elgin); Christie's, London, 27 April 1965, lot 61 (as no. 8 of 12).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 10 July 1997, lot 18.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 26 March 2004, lot 92, where purchased by Mrs T.S. Eliot.

Specialist note

The present work is part of a series of drawings of London tradesmen and women which Sandby worked on in 1759 for a projected publication, London Cries, done from ye Life.

Sets of engravings of itinerant performers, hawkers and traders had been popular in Europe for centuries and ballads incorporating their street cries have been performed since the 15th Century. In 1688 Marcellus Laroon the Elder first published his Cryes of the City of London, and these proved so popular they were regularly reissued throughout the 18th Century. They were issued in a revised state with changes to the costumes and faces by Louis-Philippe Boitard in 1750.

Only one set of twelve images of London Cries was published. Yet, Sandby produced numerous others. The present lot was formerly part of an almost complete album which was dispersed in These Rooms in 1965, and a number of drawings for the Cries are now in public institutions.