After You, by G. A. Storey R.A. (1834-1919). 1866. Oil on canvas. 27 7/8 x 35 7/8 inches (70.5 x 91 cm). Private collection. Image courtesy of Sotheby's. [Click on this image and the one below to enlarge them.]
Storey exhibited this work at the Royal Academy in 1867, no. 388, and then later at the London International Exhibition of 1872, no. 47, to which it was lent by its current owner Baron de Stern. Storey himself, in his Sketches from Memory, described the genesis of this picture during the time he was staying at Hever Castle with his friends among the St. John's Wood Clique including Calderon, Yeames, Wynfield, and Marks. Storey credited the success of this painting for his first real start in prosperity. "As we were going into dinner one evening, Yeames and I, who were walking side by side, made a halt at the door, and each drew back, saying, 'After you,' which was repeated several times, and we only settled the question by going in arm and arm. 'That wouldn't be a bad subject for a picture,' said I. I thought it over all that evening, and then decided to carry it out. The picture was painted, and the next year, 1867, it was in a good place on the line in the Royal Academy; and was the beginning of my success" (334). The painting features two gentlemen dressed in seventeenth century costume arriving at a house, where a housemaid has just been opened the door, and inviting the other to enter first. The work is reminiscent of the Dutch Golden Age Old Masters that Storey so admired, particularly Pieter De Hooghe [Hooch].
Despite the importance of this work to Storey's subsequent career it was not extensively reviewed when it was shown at the Royal Academy. The critic of The Art Journal merely commented: "'After you' (388) is a slight comedy, fairly turned out of hand by G. A. Storey" (143). F. G. Stephens in The Athenaeum found the work clever but slight: "After You (388), by Mr. G. A. Storey, two men extravagantly bowing to each other at a doorway, while an astonished maid keeps it open, is a cleverly painted, but rather flimsy, picture" (697). A reviewer for The Illustrated London News at least found Storey's picture to be meritorious: "A number of meritorious pictures remain unreviewed, which we must be content to mention, particularly Mr. Storey's humorous picture, After You (388), representing a pair of gentlemen bowing politely to each other at a door which they mutually decline to take the precedence in entering" (519).
After You, 1872. A wood engraving of the painting (12 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches) was published in The Illustrated London News, Vol. LXI, on July 20, 1872.
Bibliography
British and Continental Pictures & 20th Century British Art. London: Sotheby's (March 25, 2009), lot 232.
"Fine Arts. Exhibition of the Royal Academy." The Illustrated London News L (May 25, 1867): 519.
"The Royal Academy." The Art Journal New Series VI (June 1, 1867): 137-46.
Stephens, Frederic George. "Fine Arts. Royal Academy." The Athenaeum No. 2065 (25 May 25, 1867): 697-98.
Storey, G. A. Sketches from Memory. London: Chatto and Windus, 1899.
Created 23 September 2023