Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T16:48:00.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

James Christie and his auction house

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Lynda McLeod
Lynda McLeod*
Affiliation:
Christie’s Archives, 8 King Street, St. James’s, London SW1Y 6QT, UK
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access

Extract

Mr James Christie (1730-1803) became London’s premier auctioneer in the 1760s and he was still at the top of his profession at his death in 1803. This brief history of the man and his auction house outlines his early career in Covent Garden, the setting up of his own auction rooms during the 1760s and some of his early successes. He came to rely less on the three D’s: Death, Divorce and Debt (still the primary reason for selling at auction in the 21st century) for the source of goods, and also moved away from run-of-the-mill anonymous household furniture sales. Christie encouraged a new breed of seller – the lords and ladies of the land together with princes and royals – and the article highlights a few of the varied characters who entrusted James Christie with the sale of their property.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , 2008 , pp. 28 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Christie’s Archive is a library of last resort and is accessible by appointment only.Google Scholar
2. Roberts, William, Memorials of Christie’s: a record of art sales from 1766 to 1896 (London: George Bell & Sons, 1897), v.Google Scholar
3. Rowlandson, Thomas and others, Microcosm of London (London: Ackermann, 1808-1810).Google Scholar
4. Lacey, Robert, Sotheby’s: bidding for class (London: Little, Brown, 1998), 23.Google Scholar
5. For an early history of the London auction scene see Redford, George, Art sales: a history of sales of pictures and other works of art. . . . (London: Bradbury, Agnew, 1888), xi–xxvii.Google Scholar
6. For a history of the premises used in Pall Mall see University of London & History of Parliament Trust, British history online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/.Google Scholar
7. Roberts, x.Google Scholar
8. His first sale wholly devoted to pictures was held on 20-21 March 1767, with 128 lots, more than 60 of which failed to sell.Google Scholar
9. For a fuller account of her life see the Dictionary of national biography, http://www.oxforddnb.com/.Google Scholar
10. A catalogue, Le Chevalier d’Eon secrets et lumières, by Rolland, Christine, has been published to coincide with an exhibition at the Musée municipal de Tonnerre (26 July to 2 Sept 2007).Google Scholar
11. Laski, Philip M., The trial and execution of Madame du Barry (London: Constable, 1969), 201–203.Google Scholar
12. Sir William Hamilton’s sale of pictures, 17-18 April 1801.Google Scholar
13. The picture came up for auction at the sale of Sir William’s library of books and Lord Nelson’s pictures, 8 June 1809, lot 32, realising £136.10s.Google Scholar
14. The first public exhibition of contemporary British art opened in London on 21 April 1760 in rooms on the Strand.Google Scholar
15. Colson, Percy, A story of Christies (London: Sampson & Low, 1954), 34.Google Scholar
16. Redford, xxiii.Google Scholar
17. Russell, Francis, ‘James Christie, R J. Tassaert and the negotiations for the Orleans collection,’ Christie’s international magazine (May 1990): 8–10; Redford, 69-78.Google Scholar
18. In 1778 he placed a value of £40,555 on the collection of just under 200 pictures; they were then purchased by the Empress Catherine of Russia and shipped to the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.Google Scholar