Abraham Solomon - Sketch


[Sketch for 'A Ballroom in the year 1760']
oil on canvas
the final picture was exhibited at the RA in 1848

Friday, February 27, 2009

Sophie Anderson - The Lace Handkerchief


oil on canvas
not dated but probably late 1850's - early 1860's.
The model is probably the daughter of the artist and the same as appears in her famous No Walk Today. Characteristically she has used dark colours in the background to highlight the lit face. Elements are minutely detailed which she tended away from later.

William Powell Frith - Incident


[Incident in the Life of Lady Mary Wortley Montague]
1872
oil on canvas
This note accompanied the painting when it was exhibited at the RA in 1872:
"Lady Bute, daughter of Lady Mary, relates the circumstances of having seen her grandfather, the Duke of Kingston, once only, with the following particulars.
Her Mother was dressig, and she playing about the room when there entered an elderly stranger, of dignified appearance and still handsome, with the authorative air of a person entitled to admittance at all times: upon which, to her great surprise, Lady Mary, instantly starting up from the toilet table, dishevelled as she was, fell on her knees to ask his blessing."

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Louis William Desanges


[A Group portrait of the Waldegrave Family and their friends at Strawberry Hill]
oil on canvas
The Countess Waldegrave and her husband, the Rt. Hon Chichester Fortescue with their friends in their drawing room at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham. This gothic villa was originally owned by Horace Walpole.
.
b. 1822, fl. 1846 - 87.
(biography)

Sophie Anderson - Christmas Time - "Here's the Gobbler"


exhibited RA 1868
oil on canvas
Not a picture I personally like but she was just such a good artist

Sunday, February 22, 2009

John Anster Fitzgerald - Dreams









[The Artist's Dream] 1857
oil on millboard
Private Collection
the dreamer here is the artist himself who has fallen asleep at his easel. The beautiful fairy looking at him asleep is probably La Sylphide.
[The Nightmare] c. 1857-8
Watercolour on paper
Private Collection
here a girl writhes in anguish. This s probably the most overt drug induced painting in the dequence.
[The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of #1] c. 1858
oil on board
[The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of #2] 1858
oil on canvas
.
1823 - 1906.
Fitzgerald seems to have little formal training but from 1845 he was exhibiting at the RA and seems to have made his living as a portrait painter and illustrator (by the late 1850's he was a regular contributor to the Illustrated London News).

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Augustus E. Mulready - A Gester's Dog


1883
oil on canvas
Anyone know what a 'gester' was ????? not listed in any of my books.
Looks a bit like a crossing sweeper ?

John Atkinson Grimshaw









[Hampstead, Autumn Gold] 1880
oil on board
[Stapleton Park, near Pontefract, Leeds]1881
oil on board laid down on panel
[Greenock Shipping] 1881
oil on canvas
[The Lane in Autumn] 1880
oil on canvas
.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Alfred de Breanski - Lledr Valley


[Evening in the Lledr Valley, North Wales]
oil on canvas