Stolen Art DealerMoses stands on a promontory in the right foreground as vast waves on the left close over Pharaoh's tiny host in the centre, under a blood-red sky with two small pyramids on the horizon.
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Catalogue No. 1065 · Christie's · London
The Destruction of Pharaoh's Host
About $1.7 million in today’s money: 20 years of the typical US household’s income. Source
- Artist
- John Martin (British, 1789-1854)
- Title
- The Destruction of Pharaoh's Host
- Date
- 1836
- Medium
- Pencil and watercolour with gum arabic, heightened with bodycolour and with scratching out
- Size
- 58.4 x 85.7 cm (23 x 33 3/4 in.)
John Martin's The Destruction of Pharaoh's Host is a watercolour, worked in pencil and gum arabic, heightened with bodycolour and scratched out to bring up the light. Christie's reads the date on the sheet as 1836. Moses stands on a promontory in the right foreground. Vast waves on the left close over the tiny host of Pharaoh in the centre, under a blood-red sky, with two small pyramids on the horizon.
Christie's traces the sheet probably to J.E. Jesse by 1876, then to Agnew's in London and to Leger and Son by September 1954. George Goyder bought it in or after 1958. At Sotheby's in London on 11 July 1991 it was lot 192, bought for £107,800 by the owner who consigned it in 2012.
Christie's sold it in London on 3 July 2012 as lot 139, with an estimate of £300,000 to £500,000. The price was £758,050, about $1.19 million at the time of sale. It was the world auction record for a watercolour by the artist at the time.
The sale
- Auction house
- Christie's, London
- Date
- 3 July 2012
- Lot
- 139
- Estimate
- GBP 300,000-500,000
- Sold for
- $1.2 million (including buyer’s premium) · GBP 758,050
- Record
- World auction record for a watercolour by the artist at the time of sale (as of July 2012)
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Provenance
by 1876
(Probably) J.E. Jesse
undated
with Agnew's, London
by 1954-09
with Leger & Son, London, by September 1954, sold in or after 1958 to George Goyder
1991-07-11
Sotheby's, London, 11 July 1991, lot 192, where purchased by the present owner (GBP 107,800)
2012-07-03
Sold Christie's, London, Old Master & Early British Drawings and Watercolours, lot 139, From a Private Collection
Sources
- Christie's lot page: John Martin, The Destruction of Pharaoh's Host (lot 139, 3 July 2012)
- GOV.UK: The Destruction of Pharaoh's Host, by John Martin, at risk of leaving the UK (export bar, 2018)
Prices include the buyer’s premium, in US dollars at the time of sale, unless marked as a hammer price.