Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

ΦHarry Mileham (1873-1957)
The Finding of Moses
Signed with monogram and dated 1895 (lower right)
Oil on canvas
102 x 127cm; 40¼ x 50in

Provenance:
By family descent from the artist

Exhibited:
London, Royal Academy, 1896, no.977;
London, Leighton House Museum; Hove, Hove Museum and Art Gallery; Canterbury, Royal Museum and Art Gallery, Harry Mileham, 1995

Literature:
The Graphic, 28 December 1895;
The Magazine of Art, vol. 19, February 1896, p.157 (illustrated)
Patrick Mileham (ed.), Harry Mileham 1873-1957: A Catalogue, (1995), pp.14, 15, 22, 49, 52, illustrated pl.11

This work by Harry Mileham, and the following lot, are offered at auction here for the first time, and are two of the most significant paintings of his career. The Finding of Moses was the painting for which he was awarded the Gold Medal and Travelling Studentship by the Royal Academy. This was the premier prize at the Royal Academy Schools, and Frederic Leighton had the casting vote.

The Pardoner's Prologue (lot 335), was painted almost 30 years later and, in the words of Helen Cooper, Emeritus Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge, "this work represents the apex of Mileham’s achievement in historical and literary interpretation”. The painting demonstrates Mileham's minute reading of Chaucer's text, with details such as the Miller's white coat and blue hood, or the Pardoner's long hair, conforming with the source. His attention to detail extended beyond the text, as the Pardoner's reliquary is based on one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Host's keys are based on those of the medieval Town Hall in Calais.