Beschreibung:

From Castle of Park, Aberdeenshire Literature: Douglas, James Theodore Watts Dunton: Poet Novelist Critic, Hodder & Stoughton, 1904, pp. 266267. The bookcase in this lot is illustrated in one of the rooms at ‘The Pines’ on page 266. Note: This bookcase stood in the study of ‘The Pines’, a large Victorian villa in Putney, shared by the poet, playwright, novelist, and critic Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909) and his companion, the poet and critic Theodore Watts Dunton (1832-1914). A label affixed to the interior of this bookcase reads: 'These two bookcases which for thirty years were in Swinburne's study at The Pines are of a special interest. They were designed and executed by Whistler at the conclusion of the settlement of the quarrel of Leyland over the Peacock Room. Watts-Dunton acted as solicitor in the affair & Whistler gave one each of the bookcases to the Housemates at The Pines. Both however find themselves in the study of the Poet. Whistler painted the insects and fr** etc himself'. The bookcase, made up with Japanese lacquered panel ends, can be seen in situ at ‘The Pines’ in a photograph of circa 1904 and later gilt embellishments can also be made out on one of the end panels. The author of the note is unknown but may have been a subsequent owner. The ‘pair’ of bookcases may allude to the fact that the bookcase is double-sided. Another piece of lacquer furniture in the room was a gift from the artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), a friend of Watts-Dunton and it seems that quite several pieces of furniture at ‘The Pines’ were a gift of the artist. “Mr. Watts-Dunton's allusion to the Rossetti mementoes requires a word of explanation. Rossetti, it seems, was very fond of surprising his friends by un-expected tokens of generosity. I have heard Mr. Watts-Dunton say that during the week when he was moving into ' The Pines,' he spent as usual Wednesday night at 16 Cheyne Walk, and he and Rossetti sat talking into the small hours. Next morning after breakfast he strolled across to Whistler's house to have a talk with the ever-interesting painter, and this resulted in his getting home two hours later than usual. On reaching the new house he saw a waggon standing in front of it. He did not understand this, for the furniture from the previous residence had been all removed. He went up to the waggon and was surprised to find it full of furniture of a choice kind. But there was no need for him to give much time to an examination of the furniture, for he found he was familiar with every piece of it. It had come straight from Rossetti's house, having been secretly packed and sent off by Dunn on the previous day. Some of the choicest things at “The Pines” came in this way. Not a word had Rossetti said about this generous little trick on the night before. The superb Chinese cabinet, a photograph of which appears in this book, belonged to Rossetti.”