Private Collection, Switzerland 
Sale: Christie's, London, April 16, 2014, lot 164, illustrated
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

London, Royal Academy, 1912, no. 349
Bristol, 1912 (according to a label on the reverse) 
Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Autumn Exhibition of Modern Art: The Forty-Second, October 5, 1912 - January 4, 1913 (number untraced)

Sarah Briana Amshewitz, The Paintings of J.H. Amshewitz, R.B.A., London, 1951, p. 3

Lined. The surface is clean and the colors remain vibrant. Areas of barely perceptible, stable webs of finely patterned craquelure are visible on the surface. Under UV: there are isolated, finely painted spots, dashes, and lines of retouching in the lower part of the composition in the figures, costumes and flowers and scattered brushy retouching in the lower right corner. Small areas of retouching scattered in the capitals and in and around the columns in the upper left corner. In the sky at upper right there is one approximately 3 inch vertical line almost parallel to the ridge edge of the frame; and another approximately 3 inch almost horizontal line extending from the center right edge. Otherwise there are a few widely scattered dots of retouching visible.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

John Henry Amshewitz was a precocious talent and in 1902 won a scholarship to the Royal Academy schools, where he studied under John Singer Sargent, Sir George Clausen and Solomon J. Solomon (see lot 14). Like his contemporaries, John Byam Shaw and Frank Cadogan Cowper, Amshewitz won a number of important civic commissions, including four fresco murals for the Centenary Memorial at the Liverpool City Hall in 1907, and a large mural for the Royal Exchange, London in 1910. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, including the present work, Death’s Arrest, shown in 1912. The enigmatic subject of this large and theatrical canvas shows a young troubadour pursued by the figure of Death. Accompanying him and oblivious to the singer’s plight are a court jester, Cupid, and a beautiful maiden in fantastic costume who appears to glide mysteriously along the bottom of the canvas. The setting is the garden of an imaginary coastal villa. There is nothing to indicate that Amshewitz was acquainted with the contemporary American painter and illustrator Maxfield Parrish, but their large canvases share numerous affinities, including the use of distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery.

In 1916, having been rejected for military service due to an injury incurred while executing the Liverpool murals, Amshewitz seized upon an opportunity to travel to South Africa for six months in a theatrical production of Potash and Perlmutter, a Jewish comedy written for the Broadway stage a few years earlier. Amshewitz’s first South African exhibition occurred in 1916 and was followed by many others throughout his lifetime. In 1917, he was elected a member of the South African Society of Artists. He was also a founding member of the Johannesburg Sketch Club, subsequently becoming its President, and served as a mentor and critic to other Johannesburg artists. Although Amshewitz only lived in South Africa from 1916 to 1922, and again from 1936 until his death in 1942 (when a large commemorative exhibition of his work was opened by the British High Commissioner in Pretoria, Lord Harlech), he is perhaps best known as a South African artist, where his works can be found in numerous public collections including South Africa National Art Gallery, Cape Town; Johannesburg Art Gallery; Durban Art Gallery; Pretoria Art Museum; William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley; King George VI Art Gallery, Port Elizabeth; Africana Museum, Johannesburg; and, Albany Museum, Grahamstown.