Focus on this artwork and explain the History.
The primary version of The Shortening Winter's Day is near a Close (Lady Lever Art Gallery) was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1903.It is not known when the 82 x 120 cm replica was painted but it is probable that it was soon after the exhibition of 1903 and likely to have been painted to satisfy a patron that had been disappointed not to be able to purchase the exhibited painting that Lever had secured when it was on the walls of the Academy.The 82 x 120 cm version under the name The Shortening Winter's Day is near a Close was auctioned in 2008 by Sotheby's and again by Bonhams in 2013. In 2013 it fetched £157,250 (US$200,599)The 51 x 76 cm version was with the Richard Green Gallery in 1972 and reproduced in Country Life on 1 June that year. The Card company WN Sharpe purchased the rights to use the painting in greetings cards in the 1970s. The company later was acquired by the Hallmark Cards company, which continues to own these rights. In 2008, Hallmark's Jo Marchbank said, "This painting is one of our most popular Christmas cards. It is probably something to do with the unique atmosphere Farquharson creates, the dramatic yet subtle depiction of a winter landscape." Over the course of its use as a design on Christmas cards, it is thought to have been reproduced hundreds of thousands of times.The 51 x 76 cm version had been sold in the 1960s to a private Scottish collector for £1,450. When this version went to auction in 2008 it was listed with the title Beneath the Snow Encumbered Branches by Lyon & Turnbull auctioneers with the note "A painting of this title was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1901". There was some public interest in the piece at this time with the "Christmas card painting" resurfacing. Sold at Lyon & Turnbull auctioneers in Edinburgh, it was estimated that it would sell for between £50,000 and £70,000, but sold for more than twice that estimate to another private collector in Scotland. The painting was auctioned again by Lyon & Turnbull on 9 June 2016 for £146,500 (US$186,800).In December 2009, Gyles Brandreth presented a piece on the history of the painting for BBC One's The One Show.
The One Show Hallmark Cards Lyon & Turnbull Gyles Brandreth Lady Lever Art Gallery WN Sharpe Edinburgh Sotheby's Hallmark Bonhams BBC One