Du Maurier A Connoisseur 1891 {1892} NGV [DR]

Du Maurier, George Louis (1834-96; French/English)
A Connoisseur 1891
Pen & ink, 12.2 x 19.3 cm (image), 20 x 25.4 cm (sheet)
Purchased 1892 (advice of Bernard Hall)
National Gallery of Victoria (p.432.1-1)

[photo: as reproduced in NGV 1894]

The late Victorian “upstairs/downstairs” scenario is spelt out in the dialogue inscribed below the image (included in the reproduction in NGV 1894, as shown here): the new butler lets slip the fact that he has already sampled a whole bottle of His Lordship’s latest wine.

Bought with Du Maurier Speeches to be Lived Down 1889 {1892} NGV [DR] (also made for Punch).

Refs.

AR 1892, p.23; SB, p.432 (June 1892); NGV 1894, p.54 (II.Stawell Gallery, no.59; ill.); NGV 1905, p. 60 (II.Stawell Gallery, no.85) [£15/15]