Walter Ernest Webster - The Play is Ended

(1878-1959)

Price Realized
£18,750

signed 'Webster' (lower right), and signed again and inscribed 'The Play is Ended/W.E. Webster/Broom Villa/Broomhouse Rd./Parsons Green/£127/SW6' (on a label on the reverse)
oil on canvas
30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm.)

The Play is Ended closely relates to Webster's Souvenir of Schumann's 'Carnival' (The Leverhulme Collection, Sotheby's, London, 27 June 2001, lot 459) a homage to the German composer's musical description of masked revelers. In both pictures the seated ballerina is most probably a representation of Clara Weick, the composer's future wife, while the reticent Pierrot represents the dreamier and more contemplative side of Schumann's personality.

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