Emanuel von Baeyer
London • • •

Signed and inscribed in pen and black ink Old Bedford (bottom right).

Literature:        O. Sitwell, 'A Short Character of Walter Richard Sickert', Orion, 2, Autumn 1945, illustrated on p. 140;                        

                        Baron 2006, no. 52.10, illustrated on p. 183.

Provenance:    With Spink, London, 1990;

                        Christie's Sale, London, 2 March 1995, lot 142;

                        Private Collection, U.K.;

                        Bonhams Sale, Modern British and Irish Art, 12 May 2020, London, Knightsbridge, lot 270.

Between 1887 and 1890, Sickert represented mainly interiors of London music halls. Degas inspired him with both the subject choice, new to English painting, and the practice of working in the studio from several studies drawn on the spot in the theatre, as the pinholes along the top edge of the present drawing testify. The scene depicts the stage of the Old Bedford Theatre in Camden Town, characterized by the frieze of coloured glass footlights in front of it. The girl on the right may represent one of 'The Sisters Lloyd', a music hall act of the time. Rosie Lloyd and her cousin Bella Orchard were the original two sisters of the troupe, which later became three when Bella left and Rosie was joined by her two older sisters Gracie and Alice. Both the glass frieze and striped awning are also found in one of the paintings of 'The Sisters Lloyd', with the frieze seen from the same angle (location unknown, see Baron, p. 183, no. 52.1).

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