Painting that inspired iconic Christmas card is found hanging in pensioner's home

As one of the most popular Christmas card scenes of all time, it has graced mantelpieces by the million.

But for the last 40 years, an elderly woman has contented herself with the knowledge that only she had the original painting of Beneath The Snow Encumbered Branches.

She bought the work by Scottish laird Joseph Farquharson for £1,450 in the 1960s, and kept it hanging above her sideboard in the sitting room.

Next week, it is expected to fetch upwards of £70,000 at auction.

By Andy Dolan
Daily Mail

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1090240/Painting-inspired-iconic-Christmas-card-hanging-pensioners-home--worth-70-000.html

(Sir) Lawrence Alma-Tadema - Roman Scribe

[A Roman Scribe writing dispatches]

oil on cradled panel

Painted in Sep 1865, one of the earliest works of his 'Pompeiian' period of 1865 -1870 in which he recreated scenes from antiquity.

The frame was made to the artist's design by Thomas Maws.

http://ns1.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=376

http://www.oceansbridge.com/oil-paintings/product/1582/18361912aromanscribe

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Alma-Tadema

William Etty - The Lute Player

oil on panel

painted for Thomas Bodley in 1833

"When soft notes I the sweet lute inspired / Fond fair notes listen'd and my skill admired."

Painted for his friend and though perhaps never fully finished is considered a gem of a painting. Bodley paid a 100 gns for it. A slightly larger and more elaborate version was painted by Etty in 1835 and hangs now in the Tate Gallery.

http://www.art-prints-on-demand.com/a/etty-william/the-lute-player-when-soft.html

http://www.oceansbridge.com/oil-paintings/product/74588/theluteplayer

http://www.bridgemanartondemand.com/artist/2918/William_Etty

https://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=172&page=2&sole=y&collab=y&attr=y&sort=default

Stephen Catterson Smith the Elder

[Princess Victoria aged 9 in a Landscape]

oil on panel

painted in August 1828, one of the earliest portraits of the Princess, later of course to become Queen Victoria. It was engraved in 1829 by Thomas Wright.

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1806 - 1872.

The artist, born in Yorkshire and trained at the Royal Academy schools and in Paris, was a portrait painter. He moved to Dublin in 1845, where he painted many well-known Irishmen and members of the Irish artistocracy. Smith was appointed Director of the National Gallery of Ireland in 1868.

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note: there is a lovely portrait of the Princess aged 4:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Princess_Victoria_aged_Four.jpeg

I can't see my young grand-daughter putting up with that costume!

McCormick Collection

Just a note that the following few weeks paintings come from the sale of his paintings by Sotherby's in New York in Febuary 1990 of the Victorian works collected by Edmund J. McCormick (1912 - 1988).

He only started collecting in 1976 but had a good eye and expert advice and built up a wonderful representative collection.

Edmund J.and Suzanne McCormick Collection of Victorian Paintings
by Susan P. Casteras
Yale Center for British Art (1986)

Victorian and Edwardian Photographs - from the Roger Vaughan Personal Collection

http://homepages.tesco.net/~roger.vaughan/

Mark Senior - Who walkedst ...

[Who walkedst on the foaming deep / And calm amidst its rage didst sleep]

oil on canvas

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1864 - 1927.

http://artprints.leeds.gov.uk/index.cfm?event=catalogue.artist&artistID=7276

http://www.bridgemanartondemand.com/artist/7276/Mark_Senior

Harry Morley

[Ruth and Boaz] 1921

oil and tempera on canvas

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1881 - 1943.

http://www.artnet.com/artist/12102/harry-morley.html

http://www.superstock.com/stock-photos-images/866-3498

Harold C. Harvey

[Supper Time]

'09

oil on canvas (address is Penzance)

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1874 - 1941.

http://www.superstock.co.uk/stock-photos-images/475-1555

John George Naish

[Streaming Water]

oil on board

misidentified as Walter Crane in the past

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1824 - 1905.

http://www.bridgemanartondemand.com/artist/2569/John_George_Naish

http://www.artnet.com/artist/553168/john-george-naish.html

Sir John Everett Millais - A Dream of the Past: Sir Isumbras at the Ford

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/collections/adreamofthepast.asp

Ernest Walbourn

[A Shepherd and his flock on a wooded path beside a river]

oil on canvas

[Summertime]

oil on canvas

[pair : Flower Pickers / The young Fisherman]

oil on canvas

http://www.artnet.com/artist/17426/ernest-walbourn.html

William Sidney Cooper - Maytime on the Thames

'88

oil on canvas

John James Wilson

[Figures before cottages] 1855

oil on canvas, oval mount

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1815 - 1875.

http://www.rowlesfineart.co.uk/John-James-Wilson.html

https://www.myartprints.co.uk/a/wilson-john-james/fishing-luggers-off-boulo.html

Thomas Baker of Leamington - Cattle Watering

[Cattle Watering in a lush river landscape] 1856

oil on canvas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Baker_(artist)

The Tepidarium - Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Oil on panel

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/collections/thetepidarium.asp

Victorian and Edwardian Photographs

[Sarah Bernhardt]

http://www.users.waitrose.com/~victorianphoto/

Edmund George Warren - Shepherd Resting

[A Shepherd resting by the wayside] 1866

Watercolour and bodycolour heightened with gum arabic

James Edwin Meadows - A drover

[A drover and his herd on a country road] 1862

oil on canvas

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1828 - 1888.

James Poole

[Collecting firewood beside a stream]
oil on canvas
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1804 - 1886.
Landscape painter. Usually moutain and moorland scenes, often in Wales or Scotland.

Frank Percy Wild

[A Summer's Afternoon]

oil on canvas

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1861 - 1950.

Figurative subjects, portraits and landscapes. Exhibited at the RA. Born in Leeds, lived in Marlow, Bucks.

Edward John Gregory - Boulter's Lock, Sunday Afternoon

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/collections/boulterslock.asp

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picture-of-month/displayPicture.asp?id=164&venue=7

Dutch TV preview of upcoming Waterhouse exhibition

[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Waterhouse ]

Spotted on the great ArtMagick forum:

The long-awaited (by me anyway!) Waterhouse retrospective opens in December in the Netherlands.Dutch TV has posted a video clip offering a taster of the upcoming exhibition featuring Sir Tim Rice and Peter Trippi:

http://www.rtvnoord.nl/streaming/streamingtv2.asp?cid=wmp&pid=Noord&tid=2&pagid=76577&progid=videoitem&file=081020_WATERHOUSE.asfSir

Tim Rice will be officially opening the exhibition on 13th December, and the exhibition opens to the public on 14th December.

George Cole - Cottage at Albury, Surrey

1856

oil on canvas

Henry Charles Bryant

oil on board

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1812 - 1890.

London painter of genre, landscape and animals, especially farmyard and market scenes. Exhibited at the RA and elsewhere.

https://www.myartprints.co.uk/a/bryant-henry-charles/the-new-toy.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Charles_Bryant

Circle of John Syer

[An extensive landscape, traditionally identified as being from Richmond Hill]

oil on canvas

Frederick Richard Lee - Figures and horses on a beach

oil on panel

Sotheby's: Early British Drawings, Watercolours and Portrait Miniatures

[Fairy Gen, Bettws-y-Coed, Wales - Albert Goodwin - watercolour over pencil heightened with white and scratching out]

Session 1: Thu, 04 Dec 08 3:30 PM

New Bond Street, London

http://www.sothebys.com/app/paddleReg/paddlereg.do?dispatch=eventDetails&event_id=28683

Scott collection goes on sale at Sotheby's

[Emily Osbourne's Nameless and Friendless ]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/11/04/basales104.xml

Frederick Waters Watts - Figures before a Mill

oil on canvas

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1800 - 1862.

Christopher Wood gives this artist as Frederick William Watts. Landscape painter clearly influenced by Constable who lived in Hampstead at the same time.

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=585&page=1

http://www.artnet.com/artist/645650/frederick-waters-watts.html

http://www.richard-green.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=6&tabindex=5&objectid=6743

George Cole - The Gypsy Encampment

1852

oil on canvas

Willam Shayer - Kelp gatherers

[Kelp gatherers on a beach with boats beyond] 1846

oil on canvas

John Frederick Herring

[Three horses in a stable feeding from a manger] 1849

oil on canvas

[Hens and horses by a stream]

oil on canvas

Painting in attic found to be a masterpiece

A dust-covered painting found behind an old mattress in an attic has turned out to be the work of a famous artist worth £50,000.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3507130/Dust-covered-painting-in-attic-found-to-be-a-masterpiece.html

Augustus E(dwin) Mulready

[A London Street Scene] 1900
oil on canvas
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fl. 1863 - 1900.
Genre painter and member of the Cranbrook Colony. Painted London street scenes, especially of urchins. flower sellers and children. Not overly sentimental. There is a Mulready Jr.

Edward Charles Barnes - The Flower Seller

oil on canvas

John L. Wimbush

[The vegetable barrow]

[The toy vendor]

oil on canvas

pair

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fl. 1873 - 1904.

Figurative painter. Exhibited seven works at the RA and elsewhere. London address.

http://www.artnet.com/artist/608502/john-l-wimbush.html

William Powell Frith - The puritan's daughter

1853

oil on canvas

A well known picture of Frith's often used to illustrate the high standard of Victorian historical painting. This seems to have been influenced by Sir Walter Scott's Woodstock.

‘The Annunciation’ - Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1876

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/collections/annunciation.asp

Walter Dendy Sadler - Lost in Thought

oil on canvas

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1854 - 1923.

Genre painter. Studied at Heatherley's Art School in London and in Dusseldorf. Exhibited at the RA and elsewhere, mainly costume pieces like the above. About 1896 he moved to Hemingford Crag in Huntingdon where he died. Very popular artist in his time.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speel/paint/sadler.htm

http://www.artnet.com/artist/23812/walter-dendy-sadler.html

Phillip Richard Morris

[The Riven Shield] '60

oil on canvas

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1838 - 1902.

Painter of genre and portraits. Born at Davenport, entering the RA Schools in 1855. Won two silver medals and in 1858 a gold medal for a biblical study. Visited France and Italy. In the later part of his life painted almost exclusively portraits.

http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/biog/Morr_PR.htm

http://en.easyart.com/art-prints/artists/Phillip-Richard-Morris-11181.html

Thomas Stothard

[Sylvia and the Outlaws : A Scene from Shakespeare's 'Two Gentlemen of Verona']

oil on canvas

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1755 - 1834.

Principally a book illustrator, elected to the RA in 1794.

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=531&page=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stothard

Paul Falconer Poole - Ferdinand and Miranda

[Ferdinand and Miranda share a moment beneath Prospero's watchful eye; side panel of a triptych showing scenes from Shakespeare's Tempest]

oil on canvas

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1807 - 1879.

According to the catalogue this seems to be a second version by the artist, dating to probably the late 1850's. The subject was first exhibited at the RA in 1849.

Caliban is shown labouring in the background.

The centre panel of the triptych showed the conspiracy of Sebastian and Antonio, the right hand panel, Ferdinand and Miranda discovered by Alonzo at the entrance of the cave, playing chess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Falconer_Poole

Spring (Apple Blossoms) - Sir John Everett Millais

1859

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/collections/spring.asp

William Etty

[Judith and Holofernes, triptych]

oil on canvas

Etty mixed bitumen with his paints in order to intensify the darker tones. Unfortunately this has led to his paintings deterioating badly.

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1787 - 1849.

Painter of classical and historical subjects. Born in York, the son of a baker. He worked as a printers apprentice from 1798 - 1805. In 1807 he entered the RA Schools. Success was slow in coming and some of his nude studies scandalised Victorian sensibilities. In 1848 he retired to York and died there a year later.

Emile Barrington after George Frederic Watts - Hope

coloured chalk, watercolour and bodycolour with scratching out

a copy by Emilie (1841 - 1933) of Watt's famous painting (now in Tate Britain). Emilie was an assistant working in Watt's studio in 1887. It is mentioned in her book Reminiscences of G. F. Watts.