A Davidson interior, featuring Michael Sweerts' portrait of 'A Young Man Wearing a Turban Holding a Roemer: The Fingernail Test'.[Missing Credit]
Emanuel Wolfe Davidson was born in London in 1931 and one of his early adventures involved rushing out of a bath in his Willesden home to help neighbours after a German bomb hit their home. His own home was destroyed in that attack – and his father’s silver collection melted and had to be sold for scrap.
Perhaps that is where his collecting bug was born; at any rate, after service in the RAF, Manny joined his father’s property business and took it to new heights.
Henry House says the collection is seated in the tradition of the great collectors of the past, “who would bring together all of the different objects of beauty under one roof.”
So, among the choice items coming up for sale in Paris is a Rubens rediscovery of a study of a young man, painted on a plank of wood which was then sawn in half. An identical item is now on show in the Louvre, and experts have shown that the two pieces of wood match along the separation line.
Among the great rarities in the sale is a gold spoon once owned by Colonel John Romsey – a colonel in Cromwell’s army, chiefly remembered for being one of the Rye House Plot conspirators, who, in the spring of 1683, planned to murder King Charles II and the Duke of York (later King James II).
Romsey gave evidence against his fellow plotters and escaped prosecution. One of the earliest hallmarked gold spoons, it bears the arms of Romsey as well as Ashburnham (for his wife Elizabeth, whose father was Groom of the Bedchamber of King Charles I).
The Romsey Spoon, a gold spoon owned by Colonel John Romsey, a colonel in Cromwell's army, is for sale among other items in Davidson's collection.[Missing Credit]
There is an array of gold and silver made for all sorts of occasions, including a set of 12 silver candlesticks made for the wedding of Maria-Josepha of Saxony and Louis, Dauphin of France, in 1747. Commissioned to mark one of the most significant dynastic alliances of the 18th century, these exceptionally rare candlesticks embody a key moment in European political history.
Fascinatingly, two of the candlesticks in the set once belonged to Marilyn Monroe and were displayed at her Beverly Hills apartment. Perhaps it is not too fanciful to speculate that she used them for Shabbat, after her conversion to Judaism following her marriage to the playwright Arthur Miller.
According to Shaun Woodward, the Marilyn Monroe connection would have been meat and drink to Manny Davidson.
“He loved a story," he says. “He always wanted to know what was behind the object, how it had been created. He was interested in the essential romance of what he was buying. He would have made a brilliant journalist, because he was always curious.”
Two of the candlesticks in the Davidson collection once belonged to Marilyn Monroe and were displayed at her Beverly Hills apartment.[Missing Credit]
Sometimes, says Henry House, “in our world you come across these great collectors who have a pure instinct about how to collect. In putting the sale together we have found extraordinary quality in every category. The Rubens sketch, for example — we don’t know if Manny knew it was a Rubens or not, probably not — but he knew it was a fantastic picture.”
Also, says House, he has often found that people who have done well in the property world “have an understanding of what makes a property great.”
The fact that Davidson collected over such a range of disciplines – from paintings to furniture to china – is quite rare, says House. Most collectors specialise in one area, but Davidson “understood quality and design and could see the beauty in an item. He was fascinated by objects and their design and history. He loved nothing more than discussing their provenance with friends and colleagues.”
Davidson, who spent the latter years of his life living in Monaco, where items from the collection were on display in his and his wife’s home, was at one time chair of the Spiro Institute which morphed into the London Jewish Cultural Centre and ultimately to JW3.
Davidson's collection includes a painting by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, 'Head Study of a Boy'.[Missing Credit]
He was also, says Shaun Woodward, a keen supporter of the at-risk children’s village project in Israel, Yemin Orde, as well as a trustee for the Bowel (Cancer) Research UK charity and a variety of other good causes.
Woodward met Davidson at a sports club in 1992, where Woodward says Davidson recognised him because of his previous role as editor of the BBC’s That’s Life programme, before leaving TV to work for John Major.
They became close friends, with Davidson becoming a kind of “spiritual mentor.” Throughout Woodward’s own personal crises, inside and outside politics, he says Davidson was “always there, when it was difficult,” adding: “He felt there was a responsibility, if you had a lot, to give a lot. He was interested in the difference you could make: he collected property, people, and charities… He was like a great explorer, always interested in knowing ‘why.’”
The Davidsons moved to Monaco in 2011 and in 2017 became involved in a distressing legal dispute, of Shakespearian proportions, with their two adult children, Gerald and Maxine, relating to both property and artworks.
Woodward says the court action, which he describes as “a tragedy,” left Davidson “heartbroken,” and that he now views Brigitta’s decision to sell the bulk of the collection as “her commitment to honour Manny in every way possible.”
The Manny Davidson Collection, A Life in Treasures and Benevolence will go on sale at Sotheby’s in Paris from 5-7 November.
