Lot 178
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (British, 1812-1852), "The Belfry, Godenberg", perhaps 1840s, traces of graphite under sepia watercolor, on cream-colored wove paper, titled at bottom center but unsigned, 7 7/8 in. x 5 3/4 in., in a modern mount Provenance: James R. Lamantia, Jr., New Orleans and New York. Note: This is a somewhat puzzling drawing, since the town name (in the same sepia ink as the image, and thus presumably inscribed by the artist) seems possibly to be a misspellin for "Göteborg," the city on the southwest coast of Sweden that is often anglicized as "Gothenburg". As the second-largest city in Sweden, however, with a modern population of some half-million, it seems an unlikely place for Pugin to have sketched the very rustic bell platform in cross-braced timberwork that we see in this fine drawing. On the other hand, that town's Neo-Gothic church dates only from 1856-59; and since Pugin died in Kent in 1852, it is perhaps conceivable that he might have found Gothenburg's ecclesiastical foundation (still evidently lacking an up-to-date building during his lifetime) to be relying on what seems clearly a temporary structure for its bell, whose works look more...
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