Eliot's pricey, Cats-funded art collection set for auction
CBC News | Posted: May 31, 2013 6:37 PM | Last Updated: May 31, 2013
London auction could net $8M for J.M.W. Turner, Francis Bacon works
After poet T.S. Eliot’s death in 1965, his widow Valerie devoted her life to preserving his legacy and collecting art. Now, her impressive art collection, including works by J.M.W. Turner, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Winston Churchill, is expected to bring in more than $8 million at auction.
Interestingly, Valerie Eliot's collection wasn't made possible by royalties from her Nobel Prize-winning husband's celebrated poetry. Instead, she was able to buy the art thanks to royalties from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats, which was based on T.S. Eliot's poetry collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.
When 86-year-old Eliot died in November, no one inherited the collection as the couple had no children.
The American-born poet left his first wife, Vivienne, in 1932. He squired British-born Mary Trevelyan for nearly 20 years without marrying her. In 1957, he married Esmé Valerie Fletcher, who was his secretary, when she was 30 and he was 68.
Auction house Christie’s says Fletcher was determined to marry the great poet after first hearing a recording of his The Journey of the Magi in her Yorkshire classroom during her student days.
"Valerie’s devotion to her husband helped her form a particularly enlightened collection of British art, which she knew he would have applauded and cherished," said Orlando Rock, deputy chairman of Christie's Europe.
The artworks will be sold in London on Nov. 20.
Bought British art
"Compiled over 20 years, the collection encapsulates the history of British art, from Hilliard to Freud via Gainsborough, Spencer, Moore and Bacon; and includes quintessentially English sea and landscapes by Constable, Turner, Atkinson Grimshaw and Lowry," Rock added.
Among the individual pieces are:
- Portrait of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, by Isaac Oliver, formerly in the collection of King Charles I, estimated to sell for £300,000-500,000 ($470,000-780,000 Cdn).
- Helmingham Dell, Suffolk, a landscape by John Constable, estimated to sell for $470,000-780,000.
- The Wreck, by J.M.W. Turner, estimated to sell for: $180,000-$280,000.
- Elizabeth, Duchess of Buccleuch, by Thomas Gainsborough, estimated to sell for: $125,000-180,000.
- Deal Sands by L.S. Lowry, estimated to sell for $235,000-315,000.
- The Cathedral, Hackwood Park, by Winston Churchill, estimated to sell for $315,000-470,000).
- Returning to the Trenches, a scene from the First World War by Christopher R.W. Nevinson, estimated to sell for $78,000-110,000.
The sale will also include a collection of portrait miniatures dating from the 16th through 19th centuries as well as pieces of jewelry and furniture.
Guarded husband's legacy
Remarkably, Eliot’s collection fit into the modest London apartment she lived in until her death.
She spent almost four decades as guardian of her poet husband's literary legacy, refusing to cooperate with biographers. However, she did agree to what seemed an unlikely idea of a stage musical based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The success of Cats led to an unexpected stream of royalty funds.
Proceeds from the Christie's sale will go to Old Possum's Practical Trust, an arts charity Eliot set up to provide small grants for projects that boost the artistic, architectural, literary, music or theatrical communities.