ADAM'S IRISH OLD MASTERS 14 MAY 2026

60 45 CIRCLE OF FRANCIS DANBY (1793 - 1861) The Delivery of Israel out of Egypt Oil on canvas, 99.7 x 160cm A studio replica c.1821 of Danby’s masterpiece now in the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston. € 6,000 - 8,000 A contemporary version after the composition ex- hibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, 1825 (cat. no. 287), which secured the art- ist’s election as Associate of the Royal Academy. The original later entered the collection of the Duke of Sutherland at Trentham, was engraved in mezzotint by G. H. Phillips in 1855, sold at Christie's in 1908, and subsequently presented by Margaret Gregson to the Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston (inv. PRSMG: P116). Probably executed in the 1850s, the present work faithful- ly follows Danby’s celebrated composition, depicting the moment at which the Red Sea closes over the Egyptian army following the Israelites’ escape. The scene is con- ceived on a grand scale, with dramatic contrasts of light and shadow: a band of illumination breaks across the distant horizon, silhouetting the pyramids, while a shaft of light at right falls upon the encampment of the Israelites. In the foreground, figures give thanks as Moses, elevated on a cliff, raises his staff over the returning waters; the defeated Egyptian forces remain unseen, having been engulfed by the sea. Born in County Wexford and trained at the Dublin Socie- ty’s Drawing Schools, Danby settled first in Bristol before moving to London in the mid-1820s. He was among a group of artists, including John Martin and David Roberts, who specialised in large-scale Biblical and apocalyptic subjects. Towards the end of his career, following a period in Geneva, he returned to England, where he produced smaller, predominantly Romantic landscapes.