£500
Victor Scharf (1872-1943), Portrait of Frederick James McGarvey, signed upper right (Scharf Wien), oil on panel, 79cm x 63.5cm
Provenance: By descent in the family of the sitter to the present vendor
Frederick "Fred" James McGarvey (1873-1963) was the second son of the multi-millionaire William Henry McGarvey (1843-1914), Canadian petroleum magnate and politician. In 1879, he met John Simeon Bergheim, of Belsize Court, who had travelled to Petrolia, McGarvey's oil field in South Western Ontario. They established the Bergheim & McGarvey Company in 1883, to explore and subsequently exploit the Galician and Romanian oil bases, using Canadian drillers and the latest technology. Frederick McGarvey (who was later to marry Margaret Fanny Salome Bergheim in July 1901) - (see lot 1096), and his two surviving siblings (one of who was to marry a nephew of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin), were raised in a house that McGarvey had built for himself and his wife, Helena, a Polish emigre, at Mariampol Galicia. The children were educated in Austria and Germany. The loss of his wife, murder of a brother, and his being eventually placed under house arrest culminated with his death shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, events which were to destroy his company and fortune.
Good condition, panel with two old horizontal battens on the rasp, but not cracked or repaired, in the original ornate 18th c style gilt frame, small loss
Fees apply to the hammer price:
Room and Absentee Bids:
28.80% inc VAT*
Online and Autobids:
30.6% inc VAT*
