Lot 419 , Sir Max Beerbohm (1872-1956), 'March of The Gentlemen', pencil on paper study for a mural, 47 x 58cm, original velvet mount, overall 67 x 77.5cm

§ Sir Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) 'March of The Gentlemen'
pencil on paper study for a mural
signed and dated 1922, inscribed 'For Jack Lynch from Max 1922'
47 x 58cm, original velvet mount, overall 67 x 77.5cm
£7,000-10,000
This Beerbohm study cartoon was intended for a mural at his Rapallo villa, which was never executed. It was gifted to ‘Jack’ Bohun Lynch (1884-1928), a friend, writer, caricaturist-illustrator , and author of ‘Max Beerbohm in perspective’ in 1922. This study presented a unique and remarkable socio-historical grouping of caricatures of Beerbohm’s closest friends, from the Cultural, Political, Social and Queer communities of Britain in the early 20th Century.

Identified sitters by Sir Edward Marsh [ 1872-1953 ] KCVO CB CMG , pps to Joseph Chamberlain and Sir Winston Churchill.
Sir Ray Lankester (1849-1929) - biologist
Sir Edmund Gosse (1849-1928) - poet, author, and critic
Sir Edward Carson (1854-1935) - politician
Cunninghame Graham (1852-1936) - politician, writer, and journalist
Philip Wilson Steer (1960-1942) - landscape artist
Henry Tonks (1862-1937) - surgeon and artist
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) - writer and philosopher
John Masefield (1878-1967) - poet and writer
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) - artist
John Galsworthy…….[1867-1933] English novelist and playwright
Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) - writer and critic
Henry Chaplin (1840-1923) - politician
Herbert Asquith (1852-1928) - former Prime Minister
Sir Henry Irving, [1838-1905] Stage Actor and Manager.
AJ , Earl Balfour (1848-1930) - former Prime Minister
George S Street [1867-1936] critic, journalist ad writer
Sir Ian Malcolm (1868-1944) - Tory politician Director of Suez Canal Company Chief of Clan MacCallum/Malcolm.
George Bernard Shaw [1856-1950] Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist.

Inscribed verso ‘This cartoon by Max Beerbohm was drawn for a projected wall-painting for his villa at Rapallo, which was never executed. It was given by him to his friend and biographer (Jack) Bohun Lynch, to whom it is inscribed…… p……. It was purchased in from his estate in 1947 by Scribners…. Several of the identifications were supplied by Sir Edward Marsh’, KCVO CB CMG a British translator and friend to Rupert Brooke.
The work was intended as the frieze for the dining Room in his and Lady Beerbohm’s villa, to where they had moved in 1910. Beerbohm had married his wife, the American actress Florence Kahn, in the same year.

The work was purchased from Scribners in New York in c 1950 , by Sir Yehudi Menuhin, OM KBE. And was sold by his Estate.

Condition:
Pencil on buff paper which looks to have evenly discoloured and to be laid onto a card backing, slight outward bulging with a number of fine tears around the edges, notably a 1 inch tear near the top right corner, clipping to three of the corners and a 2 inch tear at 6 o'clock with some light discolouration, housed in a later fabric covered mount and glazed gilt frame, a key to the work drawn in pencil onto six sheets of paper which has been laid down onto the card backing, details many of the sitters, further inscription lower left is inscribed 'This cartoon by Max Beerbohm was drawn for a projected wall painting for his villa at Rapullo, which was never executed, it was given by him to his friend and biographer (Jack) Bohun Lynch, to whom it is inscribed and from who's property it was purchased in 1947 by Scribners, several of the identifications were supplied by Sir Sellmaid Marsh'.

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