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Senor Don Sancho Panza


Senor Don Sancho Panza Governor of Barataria
by Ball Hughes, ca 1862
after a woodblock engraving of John Gilbert's painting

Inscription, verso:
This Sketch was burnt with a
Poker.
Boston ― B.H.


    A third pokerism of Senor Don Sancho Panza Governor of Barataria, ca 1862, was discovered in May 2013. It measures about 8 1/4" by 10 1/4" in its frame of about 13 3/4" by 15 3/4" and is initialed on the front in the lower-left corner. The frame is the same style as the one for The Grapeseller (ca 1862).

    The two pokerworks were apparently kept together until David Brown purchased The Grapeseller from an art dealer in June 2013. The Senor Don Sancho Panza was purchased from the same art dealer for Frederick R. Brown III a few months later. The newspaper obituary for Ball Hughes is glued to the back.


Closeup
click on image to view and enlarge



“Senor Don Sancho Panza, Governor of Barataria.―Painted by John Gilbert.―Exhibition of the British Institution.”
woodblock engraving from The Illustrated London News,
March 15, 1851, p. 218.
available from Old-Print.com and Amazon


Text of the ILN article:

Senor Don Sancho Panza, Governor of Barataria. Painted by John Gilbert.

This is Mr. Gilbert’s contribution to the Exhibition of the British Institution; and in brilliancy of colouring it equals, if not excels, either of his former works. He has chosen one of the happiest phases of Cervantes’ masterly portrait of brief authority. The “declared perpetual Governor of Barataria” is here seated in his chair of state, meditating upon the cares and perplexities of his newly-assumed office. The portraiture is exceedingly characteristic. The picture is an excellent specimen of the Artist’s clever drawing and richness of colouring; doing full justice to the honest and simple squire in the full blaze of his long-promised dignity.


From Wikipedia:

Sancho Panza is a fictional character in the novel Don Quixote written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote, and provides comments throughout the novel, known as sanchismos, that are a combination of broad humour, ironic Spanish proverbs, and earthy wit. "Panza" in Spanish means "belly" (cf. English "paunch," Italian "pancia").

    Ball Hughes probably copied a woodblock engraving of Gilbert's painting that appeared on p. 218 of The Illustrated London News, March 15, 1851. The engraving was titled “Senor Don Sancho Panza, Governor of Barataria.―Painted by John Gilbert.―Exhibition of the British Institution."

    Sir John Gilbert (1817-1897) was a British artist who was known for the illustrations and woodcuts (woodblock engravings) that he produced for the Illustrated London News. He also produced illustrations for books, including Shakespeare's plays. See Falstaff Examining his Recruits by Ball Hughes.

    Ball Hughes used engravings of paintings from the Illustrated London News for the subjects of several of his pokerworks including Falstaff Examining his Recruits, Peter Paul Rubens In His Study, The Burgomaster and Daughter, and The Grapeseller.

See the other two pokerworks of Senor Don Sancho Panza:

    Senor Don Sancho Panza Governor of Barataria, 1853, Ball Hughes Salon No. 17 in the Antique Art Hall of the E-Museum of Pyrographic Art at http://pyromuse.org/ball_hughes17.html.

    Senor Don Sancho Panza Governor of Barataria, 1862, (Bostonian Society collection) described in the article, Susan Millis: Pursuing a Unique Degree, about English pyrographic artist and conservator, Susan Millis by Kathleen M. Garvey Menendez. The article appeared in Pyrograffiti Newsletter No. 38 in Woodcarver Online Magazine Vol 10 Issue 4 available at: 
http://carverscompanion.com/Ezine/Vol10Issue4/KMenendez/KMenendez3.html. 

    Senor Don Sancho Panza Governor of Barataria, 1862, (Bostonian Society collection) is also cited in The Poker Drawings of Ball-Hughes available on this site and at http://pyromuse.org/ball_hughes13.html.

    The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper and no doubt was available in Boston. The history of the ILN and back issues are available on John Weedy's Illustrated London News website at http://www.iln.org.uk/.


last update 9/5/2013
 
For noncommercial use, Copyright David E. Brown 2008-2013
 
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