Paul Sandby (1731 - 1809)

Paul Sandby

11 by 13.5 cm., 4 by 5 in. (frame size 27.5 by 30 cm., 10 by 11 in.) 

: R F Pearce; Agnew, London; Private collection. 

Sandby was born in Nottingham and moved to London in 1745. He and his brother Thomas first worked in the military drawing department at the Tower of London, later working on a military survey of new roads and bridges in the Highlands. On leaving this post in 1751 he spent some time living with his brother who had been appointed Deputy Ranger of Windsor Great Park. There he assisted his brother, and made a series of drawings of the castle, town and neighbourhood. In 1760 he settled in London where he contributed to the first exhibition of the Society of Artists where he regularly exhibited until the foundation of the Royal Academy in 1768, beoming one of its founder members. In same year he was appointed chief drawing master to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He died at his house in Paddington on 7 November 1809, and was buried in the burial ground of St George”™s, Hanover Square. He was described in his obituaries as “the father of modern landscape painting in watercolours”.

A Young Lady with Two Beaux by Paul Sandby

John Everett Millais (1829 - 1896)

John Everett Millais

SIR JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS, BT, PRA
(1829-1896)

Hunting Scene

Signed with monogram l.r.
Pencil
Framed

13 by 20.5 cm., 5 ¼ by 8 in.
(frame size 33 by 40 cm., 13 by 15 ¾ in.)

Provenance:
Private collection, UK

John Everett Millais, one of the founder members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood as also a keen sportsman. In 1851 he met John Leech who was then the chief cartoonist for Punch and had been the original illustrator for the sporting novels of Surtees. They became close friends, sharing an passionate interest in country sports. It was Leech who introduced Millais to fox hunting and the two would leave London every Saturday to hunt in the shires. Known as a bold and courageous riders across country, they would fearlessly tackle hedges and ditches. Millais continued to hunt until later years when he would spend more time in Scotland.


Hunting Scene - Sir John Everett Millais

Arthur Boyd Houghton (1836-1875)

Houghton was born in India, the son of a captain in the East India Company’s marine service.  Both is father and older brother were accomplished military draughtsmen and he probably received early training from them.  His family returned to England in the early 1850s and he began studies at Leigh’s and the Langham Art Society before entering to the Royal Academy Schools in 1854.  Although he considered his paintings in oils and watercolour to be his most important work, financial concerns make him turned increasingly to illustrating.  He became one the most distinguished illustrators of the mid 19th Century, working for a number of magazines including, The Graphic, Good Words, The Sunday Magazine and others.  His most important book illustrations were those for Dalziels’ Arabian Nights (1865) and The Adventures of Don Quixote (1866).

Arthur Boyd Houghton

ARTHUR BOYD HOUGHTON
(1836-1875)

Sunday Afternoon

Signed l.l.: Houghton
Oil on canvas
Framed

20.5 by 25.5 cm., 8 by 10 in.
(frame size 30.5 by 34.5 cm., 12 by 13 ½ in.)

Provenance:
William Drummond;
Private collection.

Probably painted in 1864, the present work evokes the peaceful contentment of everyday family life, with its small scale further reinforcing the intimacy of the scene. It is one of a series of small intimate family scenes produced during this happy period of his life. A male figure, possibly the artist’s himself, slumbers in a chair, a handkerchief draped over his face whilst Susan, the artist’s young wife reads by the window. Their child, either Arthur or Georgina, plays on the floor with a discarded newspaper. The room is at 4 Adelaide Villas, St Mary’s Grove, Richmond, the house Arthur and Susan moved to shortly after their marriage in 1861. The chaise and window, with its pots of geraniums, also feature in the 1864 painting Coach and Horses (private collection) which depicts Susan, with her hair down, playing with Arthur and Georgina. A pot of daffodils placed beside the same geraniums in the present work suggest it may have been painted in the spring of that year. Such domestic bliss would shortly come to a tragic end when Susan died of pyaemia following the birth of their third child in June 1864.

Houghton was born in India, the son of a captain in the East India Company’s marine service. Both is father and older brother were accomplished military draughtsmen and he probably received early training from them. His family returned to England in the early 1850s and he began studies at Leigh’s and the Langham Art Society before entering to the Royal Academy Schools in 1854. Although he considered his paintings in oils and watercolour to be his most important work, financial concerns make him turned increasingly to illustrating. He became one the most distinguished illustrators of the mid 19th Century, working for a number of magazines including, The Graphic, Good Words, The Sunday Magazine and others. His most important book illustrations were those for Dalziels’ Arabian Nights (1865) and The Adventures of Don Quixote (1866).


Arthur Boyd Houghton - Sunday Afternoon - An Interior

George Denholm Armour (1864 - 1949)

Scotland George Denholm Armour, animal painter and cartoonist, was born at Waterside, Lanarkshire on the 30th January 1864. After attending St Andrews University, he moved to Edinburgh, where he studied at the School of Art and the RSA Schools. It was through the RSA that he met Robert Alexander and travelled with him to Tangiers in 1885 to paint and also to buy cheap horses, only returning when their money ran out. It was on a subsequent expedition to Tangiers that he met Joseph Crawhall, who remained a great friend until the latter’s untimely death in 1913. Both hunting mad, upon their return to England the two friends ran a stud together at Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, where Crawhall continued to influence his friend’s work. The household only broke up when Armour married, with Crawhall standing as his best man. Although always a fine draughtsman, it was after he met Crawhall that Armour developed the subtle but strong drawing style seen in his work for Punch and other publications. He was first illustrated in The Graphic in 1890, while sharing a studio with Phil May in London, and from 1894 concentrated largely on his cartoon work. He contributed to Punch for 35 years, although never entirely abandoning his hunting and shooting watercolours and washes. He was appointed OBE in 1919, following his command of the army’s remount depot in Salonika. His love of the outdoors, horses and his work are interwoven. When hunting he always carried a sketch book, while his total commitment to his horses led to his converting half his studio into a stable. It is this great enthusiasm which lends so many of his animal portrayals their power and flowing movement, just as his sense of humour, wit and keen observation of outdoor pursuits give his cartoon illustrations their appeal. Caw states that in comparison to the works of other exponents of the pictured ‘sporting joke’, in ‘draughtsmanship and design they are incomparably finer.’

George Denholm Armour

GEORGE DENHOLM ARMOUR, RSA, OBE
(British 1864-1949)

Modern Coaching – In the Show Ring

Signed u.l.: G D ARMOUR
Watercolour heightened with white on linen
Framed

26.5 by 47 cm., 10 ½ by 18 ½ in.
(frame size 51 by 71 cm., 20 by 28 in.)

Literature:
E. D. Cuming, Coaching Days & Ways, with illustrations by G. Denholm Armour, Hodder & Stoughton, illus. op. p.32.

Armour was born in Waterside, Lanarkshire and studied at St Andrews University, Edinburgh School of Art and the Royal Scottish Academy Schools. He was a close friend of Joseph Crawhall and visited Tangiers with him and Robert Alexander in the 1880s. In the 1890s he settled in London, sharing a studio for some time with Phil May and becoming a regular contributor of illustrations for Punch, The Tatler, Country Life and The Graphic as well as illustrating many sporting books. In 1910, he studied military equestrianism at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. During the First World War he commanded the depot of the Army remount service and from 1917 to 1919 served with the Salonika Force. By the end of the war he was the Director of Remounts in that area and was awarded the OBE for his services. He worked in oil, watercolour and pastel, painting sporting subjects and exhibiting at the Royal Academy, Royal Scottish Academy and elsewhere and later lived in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. Works by him are in the collections of Aberdeen Art Gallery, the National Galleries of Scotland and in other private and public collections.


George Denholm Armour - Modern Coaching - In the Show Ring

William Edward Frost (1810 - 1877)

Frost was born in Wandsworth.  In 1825 he met William Etty who encouraged his artistic talents and recommended him to take drawing lessons at Henry Sass’s School of Drawing and Painting.  He furthered his studies at the Royal Academy Schools in 1829.  He became a portrait of figure subject artist, specialising in historical and mythological scenes.  In 1839 he won the Royal Academy’s gold medal for Prometheus Bound by Force and Strength (Royal Academy, 1840) and in 1843 he won the Westminster Hall competition for Una Alarmed by Fauns (now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum).  He became a full member of the Royal Academy in 1870.  He is represented in many public collections.

William Edward Frost

WILLIAM EDWARD FROST, RA
(1810-1877)

Echo

Signed l.r.: W E Frost RA
Watercolour and pen and ink
Unframed

16.5 by 10.5 cm., 6 ½ by 4 ¼ in.
(mount size 29.5 by 22.5 cm., 11 ½ by 9 in.)

Frost was born in Wandsworth. In 1825 he met William Etty who encouraged his artistic talents and recommended him to take drawing lessons at Henry Sass’s School of Drawing and Painting. He furthered his studies at the Royal Academy Schools in 1829. He became a portrait of figure subject artist, specialising in historical and mythological scenes. In 1839 he won the Royal Academy’s gold medal for Prometheus Bound by Force and Strength (Royal Academy, 1840) and in 1843 he won the Westminster Hall competition for Una Alarmed by Fauns (now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum). He became a full member of the Royal Academy in 1870. He is represented in many public collections.


William Edward Frost - Echo

George Elgar Hicks (1824 - 1914)

George Elgar Hicks

30 by 25 cm., 11 by 9 in. (frame size 50 by 41 cm., 19 by 16 in.) 

Hicks was born in Lymington, Hampshire, the son of wealthy magistrate. Initially intended for the medical profession he studied at University College from 1840 to 1842. In 1843 he abandoned is medical training in favour of art and enrolled in Sass’s Academy and in 1844 entered the Royal Academy Schools. 

Portrait of a Young Gentleman dates to the early part of Hicks’ career when he was involved in his young and growing family and painting portraits of his friends and family. In the following years he exhibited the first of his large and acclaimed genre paintings of crowded modern life scenes that were to make him famous: 

Portrait of a Young Man by George Elgar Hicks

Alfred Adalbert Boese (1875 - 1923)

Alfred Adalbert Boese

Indistinctly signed and dated l.r.: B Boese/01; signed, dated, inscribed with title and the artist’s address on the reverse: 18.2.02 / B. Boese 15 Park Hill, Clapham Park 

35.5 by 25.5 cm., 14 by 10 in. (mount size 47.5 by 37 cm., 18 by 14 in.) 

Alfred Adalbert Boese was the son of a German oil merchant who became a naturalised British subject in the 1870s. He worked as an artist and illustrator in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this time he contributed to The Windsor Magazine and The Boy’s Own Paper.

The Polar Bears at Home by Alfred Adalbert Boese

Harold Speed (1872 - 1957)

Harold Speed


HAROLD SPEED
(1872-1957)

Study for Love from “Love Leaving Psyche”

Signed l.l.: HAROLD SPEED
Black chalk
Framed

41.5 by 27 cm., 16 ¼ by 10 ¾ in.
(frame size 64 by 51 cm., 25 ¼ by 20 in.)

The present drawing is a study for Love Leaving Psyche, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1907, no. 341 (present whereabout unknown).

The son of an architect, Harold Speed initially studied architecture at the Royal College of Art, but changed to painting, winning a gold medal for life studies in 1890. He went on to study at the Royal Academy Schools, 1891-6, again winning a gold medal. He painted mythological subjects, landscapes and portraits and exhibited at the Royal Academy for 40 years from 1893 and at many other venues, including the Fine Art Society, Leicester Galleries and Royal Society of British Artists. He was Master of the Art Workers’ Guild for nine years from 1916 and wrote The Science and Practice of Drawing (1913) and The Science and Practice of Painting (1924). Examples of his work are in many public collections including the Tate Gallery and National Portrait Gallery.


Harold Speed - Study for Love

Egon Joseph Kossuth

Egon Josef Kossuth was born in Opava in what was then Austrian Silesia and is now the Czech Republic.  He studied at the School of Applied Arts and the Art Academy of Prague before further studies at the Munich Art Academy.  After travelling to England, France, Italy and Spain he established himself as a portraitist; painter of religious subjects; print-maker; photographer and graphic artist, dividing his time between studios in Wiesbaden and Prague.  He received many commissions for society portraits and in 1914 was in Berlin to paint the portraits of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Friedrich Ebert among others.  He emigrated to the USA in March 1939, dying in Hertford, Connecticut on 9 January 1949.

Egon Josef Kossuth

EGON JOSEF KOSSUTH
(1874-1949)

Nymph and Satyr

Signed and dated l.c.: KOSSUTH 1904
Oil on canvas, circular
Framed

Diameter 32.5 cm., 12 ¾ in.
(frame size 50 by 50 cm., 19 ¾ by 19 ¾ in.)

Egon Josef Kossuth was born in Opava in what was then Austrian Silesia and is now the Czech Republic. He studied at the School of Applied Arts and the Art Academy of Prague before further studies at the Munich Art Academy. After travelling to England, France, Italy and Spain he established himself as a portraitist; painter of religious subjects; print-maker; photographer and graphic artist, dividing his time between studios in Wiesbaden and Prague. He received many commissions for society portraits and in 1914 was in Berlin to paint the portraits of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Friedrich Ebert among others. He emigrated to the USA in March 1939, dying in Hertford, Connecticut on 9 January 1949.


Nymph and Satyr by Egon Josef Kossuth

James Joshua Guthrie

Although born in Glasgow, the son of an iron merchant.  The family moved to London when he was still a young child.  While working in the family metal business he studied part-time at Heatherley’s School of Fine Art and at the British Museum Students’ Group.  He became an artist, typographer and printer.  Inspired by William Blake and William Morris, Guthrie founding The Elf magazine in 1895 and the Pear Tree Press in 1899 in order to produce hand-crafted and fine quality books in the arts and crafts tradition.  His book designs and illustrations drew inspiration from the Romantic poets and medieval manuscripts.  He published his own books, often being responsible for the processes.  His graphic work is sometimes experimental and often intense in feeling.  The British Museum hold a large collection of his illustrations.

His son was the artist Robin Guthrie


JAMES JOSHUA GUTHRIE
(1874-1952)

The Sower

Signed with monogram l.r., inscribed with title l.c.
Watercolour, bodycolour and pen and ink

21 by 15.5 cm., 8 ¼ by 6 in.
(frame size 39.5 by 33 cm., 15 ½ by 13 in.

Provenanace:
Pickford Waller;
Sybil Waller;
John Baillie;
J S Maas & Co Ltd., 1974;
Robert Sadler collection.

Exhibited:
London, John Baillie Gallery, James J Guthrie Drawings, 1903, no.22.

Reproduced:
J J Guthrie, The Elf, Spring 1902.

Although born in Glasgow, the son of an iron merchant. The family moved to London when he was still a young child. While working in the family metal business he studied part-time at Heatherley’s School of Fine Art and at the British Museum Students’ Group. He became an artist, typographer and printer. Inspired by William Blake and William Morris, Guthrie founding The Elf magazine in 1895 and the Pear Tree Press in 1899 in order to produce hand-crafted and fine quality books in the arts and crafts tradition. His book designs and illustrations drew inspiration from the Romantic poets and medieval manuscripts. He published his own books, often being responsible for the processes. His graphic work is sometimes experimental and often intense in feeling. The British Museum hold a large collection of his illustrations.

His son was the artist Robin Guthrie


James Joshua Guthrie - The Sower

Lionel Durieu

LIONEL DURIEU After WALTER CRANE RWS (1845-1915) 

Watercolour and gold and silver paint on vellum 

19 by 31 cm., 7 by 12 in. (frame size 31 by 42.5 cm., 12 by 16 in.) 

Although not a direct copy, the present work combines elements from the illustrations in Walter Crane’s Queen Summer or The Tourney of the Lily & the Rose, published by Cassell & Co in 1891.

The Tournay of the Lily and the Rose

Theodore Roussel (1847 - 1926)

France Born in Lorient, Brittany and having fought in the Franco-Prussian War, Roussel moved to England in 1870. He settled in London and shared a studio with Percy Jacomb-Hood and Thomas Henry in Chelsea. Although he first began exhibiting in London in 1872 it was not until 1885 that Whistler became aware of his work and arranged to meet him. The two artists found they not only shared similar subject matter but their artistic sympathies and thoughts about the art establishment were also the same. Unusually for Whistler and his friends, they remained on good terms for life. Along with Whistler he became a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1887 only to resign with Whistler and his followers in 1888.

Whistler is supposed to have said of Roussel, “At last I have found a follower worthy of the master”. Although never actually a pupil, Whistler’s influence on Roussel’s work was immense, particular during his time living in Chelsea between 1880 and 1891. Although painting some stunning portraits, together with his pupil, Paul Maitland, he exhibited a number of striking Whistlerian views of Chelsea. The river Thames from Chelsea looking towards the factories and tall chimneys of Battersea was a major source of inspiration and subject matter. His concerns for the effects of different light and reflections resulted in a series of paintings of the river either bathed in bright sunlight, at twilight and evening and of moonlit nocturnes. In December 1888 he exhibited seven such oil paintings of “Impressions of the Thames and Chelsea” at the London Impressionist Exhibition at the Goupil Gallery.

In 1891 Roussel moved to Parsons Green, Fulham and his continued to paint aesthetic landscapes and portraits as well as producing many excellent etchings. Roussel died in St Leonards on Sea in 1926 and a Memorial Exhibition of his work was held in the following year at Goupil Gallery, London. More than 30 of his pictures were included in the “London Impressionists” exhibition at the Michael Parkin Gallery, London in 1975.

Examples of his work are in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate Gallery and other public collections.

Theodore Roussel

Etching, signed in the plate, signed on the artist’s tab, trimmed to the platemark by the artist, framed

15 by 20.8 cm., 6 by 8 ¼ in.  (frame size 35 by 40 cm., 13 ¾ by 15 ¾ in.) 

Margaret Dunwoody Hausberg, The Prints of Theodore Roussel: A Catalogue Raisonne, New York 1991, no.26

 Born in Lorient, Brittany and having fought in the Franco-Prussian War, Roussel moved to England in 1870. He settled in London and shared a studio with Percy Jacomb-Hood and Thomas Henry in Chelsea. Although he first began exhibiting in London in 1872 it was not until 1885 that Whistler became aware of his work and arranged to meet him. The two artists found they not only shared similar subject matter but their artistic sympathies and thoughts about the art establishment were also the same. Unusually for Whistler and his friends, they remained on good terms for life. Along with Whistler he became a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1887 only to resign with Whistler and his followers in 1888. Whistler is supposed to have said of Roussel, “At last I have found a follower worthy of the master”. Although never actually a pupil, Whistler’s influence on Roussel’s work was immense, particular during his time living in Chelsea between 1880 and 1891.

 In 1891 Roussel moved to Parsons Green, Fulham and his continued to paint aesthetic landscapes and portraits as well as producing many excellent etchings. Roussel died in St Leonards on Sea in 1926 and a Memorial Exhibition of his work was held in the following year at Goupil Gallery, London. More than 30 of his pictures were included in the “London Impressionists” exhibition at the Michael Parkin Gallery, London in 1975. Examples of his work are in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate Gallery and other public collections.

 The Street, Chelsea Embankment was executed c.1888-9 in a total of about 40 impressions. It shows the busy shop front on Chelsea’s riverside between Danvers Street and Beaufort Street. The area was demolished at the time of the rebuilding of Battersea Bridge in 1889.

The Street, Chelsea Embankment - Etching by Theodore Roussel

Bernard Sleigh (1872 - 1954)

Sleigh was born in Kings Norton, south of Birmingham.  When aged 14 his father died and he was obliged to leave school and become apprenticed to a wood engraver.  At the sametime he attended the Birmingham School of Art under Arthur Gaskin, coming under the influence of the Birmingham Group.  For a time he worked at an skillful illustrator for small presses and also taught engraving.  His early paintings and watercolours were heavily influenced by Burne-Jones and his circle.  In addition to his paintings, murals and illustrations he also involved in the decorative arts, designing stained glass, metal work and inlayed furniture.  He joined the Society of Mural Decorators and Painters in Tempera and was a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists between 1923 and 1928.  He worked from most of his life in Birmingham but travelled widely throughout Britain and Europe.  In 1937 Sleigh following in the footsteps of his mentor Arthur Gaskin and retired to the Cotswold town of Chipping Camden, living at Old Forge Cottage in Cider Mill Lane.  

At the age of 24 he suffered a brain aneurysm, resulting in a trepanning operation which he claims changed his outlook on life and led to his interest in mystical and fairy subjects.  He as deeply affected by the horrors of World War I and took refuge in the world of his imagination.  At this time he created his famous lithograph "An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland, Newly Discovered and Set Forth".  

Works by Sleigh are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum.

Bernard Sleigh

BERNARD SLEIGH, RBSA
(1872-1954)

The Horns of Elfland

Signed with monogram within the plate, signed, inscribed and dated in pencil l.r.: Doris Warden from Bernard Sleigh/Dec 31/35
Chiaroscuro woodcut
Framd

Image 22 by 39 cm., 8 ¾ by 15 ¼ in.
(frame size 35.5 by 50.5 cm., 14 by 20 in.

The splendour falls on castle walls
And snowy summits old in story;
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

O hark, O hear, how thin and clear,
And thinner, clearer, farther going!
O sweet and far from cliff and scar
The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!
Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying:
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

O love, they die in yon rich sky,
They faint on field or hill or river:
Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
And grow for ever and for ever.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

Blow, Bugle, Blow
Tennyson

Sleigh was born in Kings Norton, south of Birmingham. When aged 14 his father died and he was obliged to leave school and become apprenticed to a wood engraver. At the sametime he attended the Birmingham School of Art under Arthur Gaskin, coming under the influence of the Birmingham Group. For a time he worked at an skillful illustrator for small presses and also taught engraving. His early paintings and watercolours were heavily influenced by Burne-Jones and his circle. In addition to his paintings, murals and illustrations he also involved in the decorative arts, designing stained glass, metal work and inlayed furniture. He joined the Society of Mural Decorators and Painters in Tempera and was a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists between 1923 and 1928. He worked from most of his life in Birmingham but travelled widely throughout Britain and Europe. In 1937 Sleigh following in the footsteps of his mentor Arthur Gaskin and retired to the Cotswold town of Chipping Camden, living at Old Forge Cottage in Cider Mill Lane.

At the age of 24 he suffered a brain aneurysm, resulting in a trepanning operation which he claims changed his outlook on life and led to his interest in mystical and fairy subjects. He as deeply affected by the horrors of World War I and took refuge in the world of his imagination. At this time he created his famous lithograph An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland, newly discovered and set forth. Sleigh published the current woodcut, The Horns of Elfland, c.1920. There is an impression of the print in the holdings of the British Museum and another in the Royal Collection.

Works by Sleigh are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum.


Bernard Sleigh woodcut - The Horns of Elfland

Charles March Gere (1869 - 1957)

Gloucestershire Charles March Gere was born in Gloucester in 1869, became a student at the Birmingham School of Art in the late 1880s and a staff member in 1893. He was also a member of the “Birmingham Group,” an informal circle of talented craft workers and artists, which began to form in the 1890s. Most of the group members, including Gere, taught at the Birmingham Municipal School of Art. Under its head Edward R. Taylor it had become one of Britain’s most innovative art schools. Comparable to the famous Glasgow School of Art in its impact on late Victorian design, it was also one of the key centres of the Arts and Crafts movement. Fellow teachers at the school included Arthur Gaskin (1862-1928) Sidney Meteyard (1868-1947), Henry Payne (1868-1940) Mary Newill (1860-1947) and Bernard Sleigh (1872-1954). Joseph Southall (1861-1944) was not connected with the school, but his experiments in tempera at his Edgebaston studio provided another focus for the group.

In addition, Birmingham had been the home city of Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898), and at the end of the century his fame predisposed young Birmingham painters to emulate his decorative medievalising style and his fascination with Pre-Raphaelitism. The revivals, both of tempera painting and of interest in William Blake, emerged from late Pre-Raphaelite circles and were taken up by the Birmingham Group, which provides the context for the subject and technique of Infant Joy.

Group members made personal contact with William Morris (1834-1896) and Burne-Jones in the 1890s. Morris was sufficiently impressed with the Birmingham artists’ decorative drawing style to commission both Gaskin and Gere to illustrate books published by his Kelmscott Press. Gere produced the most famous illustration: the image of Kelmscott Manor, which opens Morris’s Utopian romance News From Nowhere. In this book, Morris contrasts the idyllic English countryside of an imaginary socialist future with the injustice and squalor of modern industrialised society. The idealisation of rural life is widespread in modern culture, but it was an ideal which many members of the arts and crafts movement tried to put into practice as well as express through their art; the phenomenon is studied in Jan Marsh’s Back to the Land Quartet, 1982. In 1901, Gere set Infant Joy in an Arcadian landscape, likely derived from studies made while on holiday in Italy. (The Italian style of the tiny church in the background is notable.) Gere exhibited Sunset in Perugia at the New Gallery in 1898, Assisi in 1904. In 1902, the year it was exhibited, Gere was living for the first time in Painswick in the Cotswolds, a great contrast to industrial Birmingham (then England’s second biggest city), and where he made his permanent home in 1904.

Gere’s early Pre-Raphaelite phase with its imaginative subjects was short-lived. By 1910 he was concentrating on landscapes, and painting increasingly in oil. In fact he became almost exclusively a painter of serene and idyllic landscapes in the later years of his life. Although his art lost much of its early intensity, he retained a sensitivity to the spirit of place, and his later work brought him academic honours. He was elected Associate of the Royal Academy in 1934, and then Member of the Royal Academy in 1939. He was also a member of the Royal Watercolour Society. He died in 1957.

Charles March Gere

Signed and dated 1945; inscribed on the reverse: Castle of Sion  

24.5 by 34.5 cm., 9 ½ by 13 ½ in.  (frame size 38 by 48 cm., 15 by 19 in.) 

The Mathon Court Gallery, Malvern, c.1990;  Private collection.

Gere was born in Gloucester and studied at the Birmingham School of Art under E R Taylor. He joined the staff of the art school in 1893. In the 1890s he worked as an illustrator, contributing to The Quest and books illustrated by the Birmingham Group and designing the frontispiece for William Morris’s News from Nowhere (Kelmscott Press, 1892). In his early career he was involved in a number of the arts and crafts, designing embroidery, metalwork and stained glass and painting the reredos in the Chapel at Madresfield. Gradually, however, he became almost exclusively a landscape painter. In about 1904 he and his sister Margaret settled in Painswick, near Stroud, and many of his subjects were found in the surrounding Cotswolds, which was to become his favourite painting ground. He exhibited at the New Gallery, Society of Painters in Tempera, Royal Academy, New English Art Club, Royal Watercolour Society and Art Workers Guild. A memorial exhibition was held in Gloucester in 1963.

 Sion is situated in the Rhone valley in Switzerland and is the capital of the Valais. Gere’s watercolour shows the 11th-13th century medieval fortified town surrounding the Basilique de Valère.

The Castle at Sion

Henry Woods RA

Henry Woods

HENRY WOODS, RA
(1846-1921)

Architectural Study

Signed l.r.
Oil on board
Framed

31 by 20 cm., 12 ¼ by 8 in.
(frame size 40.5 by 29.5 cm., 16 by 11 ¾ in.)

Provenance:
Direct descent from the family of Sir Samuel Luke Fildes, RA.

Henry Woods was born in Warrington, Cheshire, the son of a pawnbroker. He initially studied at Warrington School before moving to London and entering the South Kensington School of Art in 1865. Whilst at South Kensington one of his fellow student was Luke Fildes who was to become a life-long friend. Fildes was to become his brother-in-law when he married Woods’ sister in 1874. They both became illustrators for The Graphic in 1869 and he also showed his first picture at the Royal Academy that same year. From then onward he was a regular exhibitor there, becoming an Associate Member in 1882 and a full member in 1893.

In 1876 Woods made his first to Italy and he was to spend much of his life living there with only occasional return trips to England. In Italy he became friends with the group of artists which included Eugene de Blass, Cecil van Haanen and Ludwig Passini. He also befriended Sargent who was there at that time and met Whistler who introduced him to the Russian artist Alexandre Nicolaievitch Roussoff. Italy, particularly Venice, was to provide him with the subject matter for much of his work, taking a studio overlooking the Grand Canal near the church of San Maurizio. He died at his easel in 1921 and is buried in the Protestant cemetery in his beloved Venice.


Architectural Study by Henry Woods RA

Jules Lessore

Jules Lessore was born in Paris and initially studied under his father, the painter, printmaker and ceramic artist, Emile Lessore (1805-1876).  He travelled throughout Europe, painting landscapes, marines and portraits, although he principally known for his work in England, where he settled in 1871.  In Britain he exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1879 until his death in 1892.  He also exhibited at the Society of British Artist, New Watercolour Society and Grosvenor Gallery.  His son Frederick Lessore was a sculptor who founded and ran the Beaux Arts Gallery in London and his artist daughter Therese was a founder member of the London Group and third wife of Walter Sickert.

JULES LESSORE
(1849-1892)

The Bridge of Sighs, Venice

Signed l.r.: Jules Lessore
Watercolour
Framed

24.5 by 17 cm., 9 ¾ by 6 ¾ in.
(frame size 44.5 by 36.5 cm., 17 ½ by 14 ½ in.)

Provenance:
With Duncan Miller Fine Art, London.

Jules Lessore was born in Paris and initially studied under his father, the painter, printmaker and ceramic artist, Emile Lessore (1805-1876). He travelled throughout Europe, painting landscapes, marines and portraits, although he principally known for his work in England, where he settled in 1871. In Britain he exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1879 until his death in 1892. He also exhibited at the Society of British Artist, New Watercolour Society and Grosvenor Gallery. His son Frederick Lessore was a sculptor who founded and ran the Beaux Arts Gallery in London and his artist daughter Therese was a founder member of the London Group and third wife of Walter Sickert.


Jules Lessore - The Bridge of Sighs, Venice

JULES LESSORE
(1849-1892)

The Ducal Palace, Venice

Signed l.r.: Jules Lessore
Watercolour
Framed

24.5 by 17 cm., 9 ¾ by 6 ¾ in.
(frame size 44.5 by 36.5 cm., 17 ½ by 14 ½ in.)

Provenance:
With Duncan Miller Fine Art, London.

Jules Lessore was born in Paris and initially studied under his father, the painter, printmaker and ceramic artist, Emile Lessore (1805-1876). He travelled throughout Europe, painting landscapes, marines and portraits, although he principally known for his work in England, where he settled in 1871. In Britain he exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1879 until his death in 1892. He also exhibited at the Society of British Artist, New Watercolour Society and Grosvenor Gallery. His son Frederick Lessore was a sculptor who founded and ran the Beaux Arts Gallery in London and his artist daughter Therese was a founder member of the London Group and third wife of Walter Sickert.


Jules Lessore - The Ducal Palace, Venice

Rex Vicat Cole (1870 - 1940)

Reginald (Rex) Vicat Cole was the son of the artist George Vicat Cole. He began to exhibit in London in the 1890s and was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1900. He taught at King’s College London with Byam Shaw and together they opened their own establishment, the Byam Shaw and Vicat Cole School of Art in Camden Street, Kensington in 1910. At the outbreak of the First World War Vicat Cole and Byam Shaw enlisted in the Artists Rifles, although Shaw soon transferred to the Special Constabulary. After Shaw’s death in 1919 Vicat Cole was Principal until his retirement in 1926.rnrnKnown for his landscapes and paintings of trees he also had a keen interest in depicting the streets of London. He held a one-man show “London Old and New” at Robert Dunthorne’s Gallery, Vigo Street, London, in 1935 and planned a book The Streets of London which was never published. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and elsewhere.


Rex Vicat Cole

REX VICAT COLE
(1870-1940)

Rupert Court between Wardour Street and Rupert Street, Soho

Signed l.l.; signed and inscribed with title on a label on the reverse
Oil on panel

51 by 35 cm., 21 by 14 in.
(frame size 67 by 52 cm., 26 ½ by 20 ½ in.)

Exhibited:
Robert Dunthorne, Rembrandt Gallery, Vigo Street, London Old and New, pictures by Rex Vicat Cole, 1935, no.69;
Portsmouth Museum & Art Gallery, The Cole Family, Painters of the English Landscape, 1838-1975, 1988 no.126.

Literature:
T J Barringer, The Cole Family: Painters of the English Landscape 1838-1975, Portsmouth City Museums 1988, p.160, p.163 (no.126)

The Georgian passageway, Rupert Court, is much the same today, its shops and bars having had various incarnations as part of Soho’s colourful nightlife and through being on the fringe of Chinatown. It was also immortalised in a famous photograph of The Beatles taken by Dezo Hoffman in 1963.

Reginald (Rex) Vicat Cole was the son of the artist George Vicat Cole. He began to exhibit in London in the 1890s and was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1900. He taught at King’s College London with Byam Shaw and together they opened their own establishment, the Byam Shaw and Vicat Cole School of Art in Camden Street, Kensington in 1910. At the outbreak of the First World War Vicat Cole and Byam Shaw enlisted in the Artists Rifles, although Shaw soon transferred to the Special Constabulary. After Shaw’s death in 1919 Vicat Cole was Principal until his retirement in 1926.

Known for his landscapes and paintings of trees he also had a keen interest in depicting the streets of London. He held a one-man show “London Old and New” at Robert Dunthorne’s Gallery, Vigo Street, London, in 1935 and planned a book The Streets of London which was never published. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and elsewhere.


Rex Vicat Cole - Rupert Court between Wardour Street and Rupert Street, Soho

John Whitlock Codner (1913 - 2008)

John Whitlock Codner was born in Beaconsfield, the son of the society portrait painter Maurice Codner. He was educated at St Edward’s School, Oxford. During World War II he served in the Royal Artillery, being commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1940 and serving as a camouflage officer in the Middle East. After the war be studied in London at the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Art. He then taught at the Sir John Cass School of Art, from 1947 to 1951. Following a move to the West Country, he became a member of the Royal West of England Academy. He worked from his studio in Stokenham, Devon and was an honorary member of the Bristol Savages. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and Royal West of England Academy.

John Whitlock Codner

91.5 by 71 cm., 36 by 28 in. (frame size 103.5 by 83 cm., 40 by 32 in.) 

The New Hat by John Witlock Codner

Arthur Wardle

Arthur Wardle was born in London.  He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1880 when he was aged only 16 and thereafter was a regular and frequent exhibitor there and at many other London and provincial venues.  His early work seemed to concentrate on landscape and rustic scenes and it was not until the 1890s that he began to explore the subject matter for which he was to become so famous, namely domestic and wild animals, and big cats in particular.  He soon established a reputation for exhibiting large mythological and dramatic subjects, which gave him the opportunity to include lions, tigers, leopards and occasionally even polar bears.

Wardle lived in St John’s Wood.  Here he was close to London Zoo, which provided him with the chance to study his subjects closely.  As a regular visitor to the zoo he made numerous sketches, which he would then use to work on in the large canvases in his studio.  He was equally proficient in oils, watercolour and pastels and was elected to the Pastel Society in 1911.


Arthur Wardle was born in London. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1880 when he was aged only 16 and thereafter was a regular and frequent exhibitor there and at many other London and provincial venues. His early work seemed to concentrate on landscape and rustic scenes and it was not until the 1890s that he began to explore the subject matter for which he was to become so famous, namely domestic and wild animals, and big cats in particular. He soon established a reputation for exhibiting large mythological and dramatic subjects which gave him the opportunity to include lions, tigers, leopards and occasionally even polar bears. Wardle lived in St John’s Wood. Here he was close to London Zoo, which provided him with the chance to study his subjects closely. As a regular visitor to the zoo he made numerous sketches that he would then use to work on in the large canvases in his studio.

Study of a Water Hyacinth

William Shackleton (1872 - 1933)

William Shackleton was born in Bradford, the son of a paper manufacturer and merchant.  He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and then studied art at Bradford Technical College.  In 1893 he won a scholarship to the National Art Training School (later to become the Royal College of Art), where he gained a British Institute Scholarship in 1896.  This enabled him to study in Paris and Italy.  On returning to London, he took a studio in Chelsea, sharing it with Philip Connard and Oliver Onions.  He would spend many of the summer months West Sussex, joining Edward Stott and his artistic community based around the South Downs village of Amberley.  After 1914 he moved to a cottage close to Gordale Scar, near Malham, in the Yorkshire Dales.  There the dramatic landscape would feature in many of his later paintings.  

Greatly influenced by Turner and George Frederic Watts in his colouring, atmosphere and impressionist handling, Shackleton developed a personal vision of the spirituality of nature which was reflected in his symbolist paintings which often depicted the mysticism of life and destiny via the myths and legends of antiquity.  He described his own work as “conscientious symbolism”.

Shackleton exhibited widely sending being a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and many other major venues both in London and regionally.  He also represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1910 and again in 1922.  He held solo shows at the Goupil Gallery in 1913 and at the Twenty-One Gallery in 1910 and 1922.  In 1933 a memorial exhibition was held at the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford.  Works by him are in many public collections


William Shackleton

WILLIAM SHACKLETON, NEAC
(1872-1933)

Kniphofia - Red Hot Pokers

Signed l.r.: Wm Shackleton
Watercolour and bodycolour over traces of pencil
Framed

37 by 18.5 cm., 14 ½ by 7 ¼ in.
(frame size 55.5 by 37.5 cm., 21 ¾ by 14 ¾ in.)

Provenance:
The artist’s studio sale.

William Shackleton was born in Bradford, the son of a paper manufacturer and merchant. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and then studied art at Bradford Technical College. In 1893 he won a scholarship to the National Art Training School (later to become the Royal College of Art), where he gained a British Institute Scholarship in 1896. This enabled him to study in Paris and Italy. On returning to London, he took a studio in Chelsea, sharing it with Philip Connard and Oliver Onions. He would spend many of the summer months West Sussex, joining Edward Stott and his artistic community based around the South Downs village of Amberley. After 1914 he moved to a cottage close to Gordale Scar, near Malham, in the Yorkshire Dales. There the dramatic landscape would feature in many of his later paintings.

Greatly influenced by Turner and George Frederic Watts in his colouring, atmosphere and impressionist handling, Shackleton developed a personal vision of the spirituality of nature which was reflected in his symbolist paintings which often depicted the mysticism of life and destiny via the myths and legends of antiquity. He described his own work as “conscientious symbolism”.

Shackleton exhibited widely sending being a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and many other major venues both in London and regionally. He also represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1910 and again in 1922. He held solo shows at the Goupil Gallery in 1913 and at the Twenty-One Gallery in 1910 and 1922. In 1933 a memorial exhibition was held at the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford. Works by him are in many public collections.


William Shackleton - Red Hot Pokers

John Dronsfield (1900 - 1951)

John Marsden Dronsfield was born in Lancashire.  He studied briefly at Manchester School of Art.   In 1918 he enlisted in the Young Solder’s Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment but was discharged the following year as being physically unfit.  In 1923 he began work in London as an advertising artist and stage-designer for Sybil Thorndike.  In 1939 he moved to South Africa, settling in Cape Town, where he built a reputation as an imaginative stage-designer for ballet and theatre.  In 1945-48 he worked with Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies and Marda Vanne in theatrical productions which were a major contribution to the development of theatre in South Africa.  He also wrote incidental music for their 1945 production of The Merry Wives of Windsor.  He was a member of the International Art Club, South Africa.

His first one-man exhibition was held in Cape Town in 1939.  His work was included in the Overseas Exhibition of South African Art in the Tate Gallery, London in 1948 and in the Venice Biennale of 1950.  

A Memorial Exhibition was help at the South African National Art Gallery, Cape Town in 1955.


John Dronsfield

Signed l.r.: Dronsfield, inscribed with title beneath the mount  Watercolour  Framed

43 by 37 cm., 17 by 14 ¼ in.  (frame size 64 by 57.5 cm., 15 ¼ by 22 ¾ in.)

John Marsden Dronsfield was born in Lancashire. He studied briefly at Manchester School of Art. In 1918 he enlisted in the Young Solder’s Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment but was discharged the following year as being physically unfit. In 1923 he began work in London as an advertising artist and stage-designer for Sybil Thorndike. In 1939 he moved to South Africa, settling in Cape Town, where he built a reputation as an imaginative stage-designer for ballet and theatre. In 1945-48 he worked with Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies and Marda Vanne in theatrical productions which were a major contribution to the development of theatre in South Africa. He also wrote incidental music for their 1945 production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. He was a member of the International Art Club, South Africa.

His first one-man exhibition was held in Cape Town in 1939. His work was included in the Overseas Exhibition of South African Art in the Tate Gallery, London in 1948 and in the Venice Biennale of 1950.

A Memorial Exhibition was help at the South African National Art Gallery, Cape Town in 1955.

John Dronsfield - Design for a Theatre Poster

Randolph Schwabe (1885 - 1948)

Randolph Schwabe was born in Eccles, Manchester, the son of a German born cotton merchant.  He initially studied at the Royal College of Art but after a short time transferred to the Slade.  In 1904 he won the Slade Scholarship and in 1905 won the college Summer Competition.  In 1906, a Slade scholarship allowed him to study at the Academie Julian, Paris before travelling to Italy.  Unable to enlist due to poor health he was an official War Artist during World War I.  After the war he initially worked as a theatrical designer and book illustrator he began teaching at Camberwell and Westminster Schools of Art.  He was then drawing master at the Royal College of Art before succeeding Henry Tonks as Slade Professor and head of the Slade School of Art in 1930.  In 1941 he joined the committee of the War Artists’ Advisory Committee.  Schwabe was a prolific exhibitor at the New English Art Club and Goupil Gallery, also showing at Carfax Gallery, Fine Art Society, Leicester Galleries and Royal Watercolour Society.  Examples of his work are in the collections of the Tate Gallery, Imperial War Museum and elsewhere.

Randolph Schwabe

Grisaille watercolour and pen and ink  Framed

32 by 24.5 cm., 12 ½ by 9 ¾ in.  (frame size 55 by 47 cm., 21 ½ by 18 ½ in.)

The Artist’s Estate and by descent to his daughter, Alice, Lady Barnes;  Chris Beetles, London.

Randolph Schwabe was born in Eccles, Manchester, the son of a German born cotton merchant. He initially studied at the Royal College of Art but after a short time transferred to the Slade. In 1904 he won the Slade Scholarship and in 1905 won the college Summer Competition. In 1906, a Slade scholarship allowed him to study at the Academie Julian, Paris before travelling to Italy. Unable to enlist due to poor health he was an official War Artist during World War I. After the war he initially worked as a theatrical designer and book illustrator he began teaching at Camberwell and Westminster Schools of Art. He was then drawing master at the Royal College of Art before succeeding Henry Tonks as Slade Professor and head of the Slade School of Art in 1930. In 1941 he joined the committee of the War Artists’ Advisory Committee. Schwabe was a prolific exhibitor at the New English Art Club and Goupil Gallery, also showing at Carfax Gallery, Fine Art Society, Leicester Galleries and Royal Watercolour Society. Examples of his work are in the collections of the Tate Gallery, Imperial War Museum and elsewhere.

 Austin’s Stores stood at the corner of Brewer Street and Lower James Street in the heart of London’s Soho. It has since been rebuilt.

Austin's Stores, Brewer Street, Soho by Randolph Schwabe

Cecil Beaton (1904 - 1980)

England Harrow- and Cambridge-educated Cecil Beaton made his name as a photographer of theatrical, royal and society luminaries. In the thirties, he designed sets and costumes for ballet, opera and films. It was also in this decade Beaton began to photograph the royal family. After the war,he was designing theatre productions, in both London and New York. He famously won Oscars for the flowing elegance of his costume design for Gigi and My Fair Lady. His films were almost invariably set in high society - or in the demi-monde at least. Beaton was chosen as official photographer for many royal events, such as the coronation, and photographing the Queen’s children. He was equally successful in the 1960s, again at the forefront of society and fashion, capturing its beauty. He was made a CBE in 1957 and knighted in 1972.

Cecil Beaton

SIR CECIL BEATON, CBE
(1904-1980)

Ballet Costume Design for Le Pavillon - 1936

Signed and bears wardrobe mark l.r.: Beaton
Watercolour and ink

49 by 39 cm., 19 ¼ by 15 ½ in.
(frame size 70.5 by 60 cm., 27 ¾ by 23 ¾ in.)

Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton was a fashion and portrait photographer, diarist, interior designer and stage and costume designer for the stage and screen. He was born in Hampstead and educated at Harrow and St John’s College, Cambridge although he left without a degree in 1925. He worked as a photographer for fashion magazines and became an extremely popular and well-connected society portraitist who also recorded the gathering of his friends among the Bright Young Things of the 20s and 30s. After the war Beaton started designing stage sets and costumes for London and Broadway. His most lauded achievement for the stage being the costume for Lerner and Loewe’s 1956 production of My Fair Lady.

In 1936 Beaton was commissioned to design the costumes for Col de Basil’s Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo’s performance of Le Pavillon to be performed at the Royal Opera House. The ballet was by Boris Kochno, music by Alexander Borodine and choreography by David Lichine. The costumes were made by Barbara Karinska and the main dancers were Irina Baronova, Tatiana Riabouchinska and David Lichine. Beaton designed a blue stage set with costumes in shades of blue overlaid with brilliantly coloured feathers, flowers etc. However, when Kochno saw the half finished blue costumes, he was so enchanted by them that he insisted they were used as they were, without the trimmings. The result was a blue or blue effect on the opening night of the ballet. Beaton was dismayed and, disobeying Kochno, he arranged for Barbara Karinska, the costume maker, to add the colourful overskirts and trims for the subsequent performances and for the United States tour.


Cecil Beaton - Ballet Costume Desight for Le Pavillon - 1936

SIR CECIL BEATON, CBE
(1904-1980)

Ballet Costume Design for Le Pavillon - 1936

Signed l.r.: Beaton
Watercolour, bodycolour and ink

49 by 39 cm., 19 ¼ by 15 ½ in.
(frame size 70.5 by 60 cm., 27 ¾ by 23 ¾ in.)

Literature:
Cyril W Beaumont, Design for the Ballet, London, 1937, illus. p.110.

Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton was a fashion and portrait photographer, diarist, interior designer and stage and costume designer for the stage and screen. He was born in Hampstead and educated at Harrow and St John’s College, Cambridge although he left without a degree in 1925. He worked as a photographer for fashion magazines and became an extremely popular and well-connected society portraitist who also recorded the gathering of his friends among the Bright Young Things of the 20s and 30s. After the war Beaton started designing stage sets and costumes for London and Broadway. His most lauded achievement for the stage being the costume for Lerner and Loewe’s 1956 production of My Fair Lady.

In 1936 Beaton was commissioned to design the costumes for Col de Basil’s Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo’s performance of Le Pavillon to be performed at the Royal Opera House. The ballet was by Boris Kochno, music by Alexander Borodine and choreography by David Lichine. The costumes were made by Barbara Karinska and the main dancers were Irina Baronova, Tatiana Riabouchinska and David Lichine. Beaton designed a blue stage set with costumes in shades of blue overlaid with brilliantly coloured feathers, flowers etc. However, when Kochno saw the half finished blue costumes, he was so enchanted by them that he insisted they were used as they were, without the trimmings. The result was a blue or blue effect on the opening night of the ballet. Beaton was dismayed and, disobeying Kochno, he arranged for Barbara Karinska, the costume maker, to add the colourful overskirts and trims for the subsequent performances and for the United States tour.


Cecil Beaton - Ballet Costume Design for Le Pavillon, 1936

Oliver Messel (1904 - 1978)

Oliver Messel

OLIVER MESSEL
(1904-1978)

White and Gold Costume Design for Vivian Leigh in Caesar and Cleopatra - 1945

Signed l.r.: Oliver Messel
Watercolour and chalks heightened with white and gold paint
Framed

14 ¼ by 9 ½ in., 36 by 24 cm.
(Frame size 26 by 21 ¼ in., 66 by 54 cm.)

Born in London, Messel was the grandson of the illustrator Linley Sambourne. After Eton he studied art at the Slade School of Art and by the early 1930s had established himself as one of Britain’s principal stage designers. Initially working for the Cochran Revues, he went on to design for many theatrical, operatic, ballet and film productions. His books included Stage Designs and Costumes, 1933; Designs for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1957 and Delightful Food, 1958. He exhibited at the Leicester Galleries and Redfern Gallery and also designed interiors and gardens of the Dorchester Hotel, Flaxley Abbey, Gloucestershire and elsewhere as well as several houses and grounds in Barbados and Mustique. The Victoria & Albert Museum hold the majority of his design archives.

The present work is a costume design for the 1945 film Caesar and Cleopatra, directed by Gabriel Pascal and staring Claude Rains, Vivien Leigh, Stewart Granger and Flora Robson. Messel designed the costumes, props and interior decorations for what was billed as one of the most lavish movies of all times, costing over a million pounds. It was an amazing production to be achieved in a time of extreme austerity towards of the end of World War II, filming starting just a few days after D-Day. In addition to his meticulous historical research, at this time of rationing Messel had to show enormous resourcefulness and improvisation sourcing his materials and fabrics.


Costume Design for Vivian Leigh in Caesar and Cleopatra by Oliver Messel

OLIVER MESSEL
(1904-1978)

Costume Design for Vivian Leigh in Caesar and Cleopatra - 1945

Signed l.r.: Oliver Messel, inscribed u.r.: Cleopatra at her party in Rome
Watercolour and chalks heightened with white and gold paint
Framed

14 ¼ by 9 ½ in., 36 by 24 cm.
(Frame size 26 by 21 ¼ in., 66 by 54 cm.)

Born in London, Messel was the grandson of the illustrator Linley Sambourne. After Eton he studied art at the Slade School of Art and by the early 1930s had established himself as one of Britain’s principal stage designers. Initially working for the Cochran Revues, he went on to design for many theatrical, operatic, ballet and film productions. His books included Stage Designs and Costumes, 1933; Designs for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1957 and Delightful Food, 1958. He exhibited at the Leicester Galleries and Redfern Gallery and also designed interiors and gardens of the Dorchester Hotel, Flaxley Abbey, Gloucestershire and elsewhere as well as several houses and grounds in Barbados and Mustique. The Victoria & Albert Museum hold the majority of his design archives.

The present work is a costume design for the 1945 film Caesar and Cleopatra, directed by Gabriel Pascal and staring Claude Rains, Vivien Leigh, Stewart Granger and Flora Robson. Messel designed the costumes, props and interior decorations for what was billed as one of the most lavish movies of all times, costing over a million pounds. It was an amazing production to be achieved in a time of extreme austerity towards of the end of World War II, filming starting just a few days after D-Day. In addition to his meticulous historical research, at this time of rationing Messel had to show enormous resourcefulness and improvisation sourcing his materials and fabrics.


Costume Design for Vivian Leigh in Caesar and Cleopatra by Oliver Messel 1945

John Sergeant (1937 - 2010)

John Sergeant

35 by 20.5 cm., 13 by 8 in. (mount size 52 by 36 cm., 20 by 14 in.) 

Sergeant was born in London, the son of a civil servant. His family soon moved to Faversham in Kent after they were bombed during World War II. He studied at Canterbury College of Art from 1954-57, during which period he met John Ward, who was to become a lifelong friend and supporter. In 1959 he entered the Royal Academy Schools, where he won a Drawing Prize in 1961. In 1962 he married a fellow student, Carolyn Cann. After graduating from the RA he taught part-time at art schools in Kent and worked on commissions including book jacket designs and illustrations and series of ”˜room-portraits’ of interiors. He moved to near Builth Wells, Wales in 1983. In 1989 the Prince of Wales asked Sergeant to contribute drawings to his book Vision of Britain; two years later he accompanied the prince on an official visit to Prague. A superb draughtsman, he was a great exponent of the teaching of drawing in art school: “If you can draw you can paint. All you need to know as Whistler used to say, is which end of the brush to put in your mouth”. In his 2006 Colnaghi exhibition he described himself as a “serious serial draughtsman who explores, scrutinizes the same subject back, front, sideways, this way and that. It is all part of trying to understand”. He held one-man exhibitions in London at the Maas Gallery, Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox and Colnaghi.

Life Class by John Sergeant

Mary Adshead (1904 - 1995)

Mary Adshead

MARY ADSHEAD
(1904-1995)

Portrait of Stephen Bone, the artist’s husband

Pencil and watercolour, squared for transfer
Framed

45 by 32 cm., 17 ¾ by 12 ½ in.
(frame size 62.5 by 48.5 cm., 24 ¾ by 19 in.)

Mary Adshead enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art in 1921, when she was only 16. There she and Rex Whistler won the joint first prize in the Slade’s Summer painting competition in 1924 and as a result Henry Tonks arranged for them to undertake a joint mural commission at the Highway Boys’ Club in London’s East End. Following this success, she began to receive a steady stream of mural commissions, most importantly those in Liverpool University (1924) and for the British Empire Exhibition (1924) and for Lord Beaverbrook’s dining room (1928) and the Bank Underground Station (1929). She was soon established as a painter, decorator, painter of murals and illustrator, designing posters for London Underground, decorations for the British Pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exhibition and designed stamps for the General Post Office.

In 1929 Mary Adshead married Stephen Bone, the son of the artist Sir Muirhead Bone. He had studied at the Slade at the same time as Adshead, leaving to become an illustrator and painter. The couple travelled extensively across Britain and Europe where he frequently painted outdoors in all weathers. He was an official war artist during World War II, specialising in Admiralty subjects, a post previously held by his father. He exhibited at the Fine Art Society, Leferve Gallery and Redfern Gallery.

Mary exhibited at the Royal Academy, New English Art Club, Society of Women Artists and Goupil Gallery and exhibitions of her work have been held at The University of Liverpool Art Gallery; Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield and Kingston upon Thames Art Gallery.


Portrait of Stephen Bone, the artist's husband by Mary Adshead

Frank Dobson (1886 - 1963)

A sculptor, draughtsman and painter in oil and watercolour.  Born in London, Dobson first studied at Leyton School of Art and later at the City and Guilds School, Kennington. During World War I he enlisted in the Artists’ Rifles and continued working - his large oil The Balloon Apron was acquired by the Imperial War Museum.  After the war Dobson met Wyndham Lewis and exhibited with Group X in 1920 and he held his first one-man show as a sculptor at the Leicester Galleries in 1921.  During the interwar Dobson consolidated his reputation as a sculptor and together with Epstein was call “a keeper of tradition” – bridging classical and modern sculpture. In 1946 Dobson was appointed professor of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. 

He is represented in many public galleries including the Tate Gallery.


Frank Dobson

FRANK DOBSON, R.A.
(1886-1963)

Study Towards Cornucopia

Pencil, watercolour and gouache
Framed

51 by 35.5 cm., 20 by 14 in.
(frame size 71 by 55 cm., 28 by 21 ½ in.

Provenance:
The Artist’s Estate;
Gillian Jason Gallery, London;
Private collection, France.

Executed c.1925-7, the present work is a study of a monumental nude is related to his stone figure Cornucopia now in the collection of the University of Hull.

A sculptor, draughtsman and painter in oil and watercolour. Born in London, Dobson first studied at Leyton School of Art and later at the City and Guilds School, Kennington. His early paintings were much influenced by Roger Fry’s Post-Impressionist exhibitions. His first carvings date from 1913 and his first one man show, at the Chenil Gallery, was in 1914. During World War I he enlisted in the Artists’ Rifles and continued working - his large oil The Balloon Apron was acquired by the Imperial War Museum. After the war Dobson met Wyndham Lewis and exhibited with Group X in 1920 and he held his first one-man show as a sculptor at the Leicester Galleries in 1921. During the interwar Dobson consolidated his reputation as a sculptor and together with Epstein was called “a keeper of tradition” – bridging classical and modern sculpture. In 1946 Dobson was appointed professor of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art.

He is represented in many public galleries including the Tate Gallery.


Frank Dobson - Nude Study Towards Cornucopia

- Possibly a portrait of the artist’s wife. 

33 by 21.5 cm., 13 by 8 in. (mount size 49.5 by 37 cm., 19 by 14 in.) 

Portrait of a Woman - Probably the Artist's Wife by John Sergeant

Frederick George Swaish

Frederick George Swaish was born in Bristol, the son of Sir John Swaish, a pawnbroker who twice served as Lord Mayor of Bristol.  Swaish’s dashing 1915 portrait of his father, wearing his mayoral robes, is in the collection of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.  

He studied in Bristol and London where in 1903 he was sharing a fashionable Glebe Place, Chelsea studio with Ernest Howard Shepherd.  He worked as a painter of portraits, figurative and landscape subjects.  He exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal West of England Academy and elsewhere.  Works by him are held in the collections of the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Bristol Museum and Art Gallery; the Royal West of England Academy.


FREDERICK GEORGE SWAISH
(1879-1931)

The Mountain Climber

Signed l.r.: SWAISH
Oil on board
Framed

26 by 36 cm., 10 ¼ by 14 ¼ in.
(frame size 39 by 49 cm., 15 ½ by 19 ¼ in.)

Frederick George Swaish was born in Bristol, the son of Sir John Swaish, a pawnbroker who twice served as Lord Mayor of Bristol. Swaish’s dashing 1915 portrait of his father, wearing his mayoral robes, is in the collection of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

He studied in Bristol and London where in 1903 he was sharing a fashionable Glebe Place, Chelsea studio with Ernest Howard Shepherd. He worked as a painter of portraits, figurative and landscape subjects. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal West of England Academy and elsewhere. Works by him are held in the collections of the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Bristol Museum and Art Gallery; the Royal West of England Academy.


Frederick George Swaish - The Mountain Climber

John Stanton Ward (1917 - 2007)

England Ward was born in Hereford, where his father, Russell Stanton Ward, ran an antiques shop and restored paintings. He studied at the Hereford School of Arts and Crafts before winning a place to the Royal College of Art in 1936, where he studied under Gilbert Spencer, Charles Mahoney and Alan Sorrell and won the prize for drawing. During World War II he served in the Royal Engineers, using his drawing skills to design pillboxes, and later taking part in the D-Day landings. He was posted to Belgium after the war before returning to the Royal College to graduate in 1946.Ward worked as a painter, illustrator and teacher, happy to work in oils, watercolour, pastel and pen and ink. He painted portraits, landscapes, interiors and architectural subjects, undertaking portraits of members of the royal family, businessmen and celebrities including the Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal and the christenings of Prince William and Prince Harry. Fifteen of his portraits are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery and he held one man shows at Agnew’s and the Maas Gallery. As a prolific illustrator he worked on guides to Herefordshire and North Yorkshire and produced illustrations for Vogue magazine from 1948 to 1952 and illustrated many books including Laurie Lee’s Cider with Rosie (1959) and H E Bates’s The Darling Buds of May (1958). As a teacher he gave lessons in drawing to the Prince of Wales and taught at for a time at Wimbledon School of Art.In 1956 he became an associate member of the Royal Academy, being elected a full member in 1966. He was a Trustee of the Royal Academy from 1985 to 1993. In 1997 he resigned from the Royal Academy in protest at the Sensation exhibition and never rejoined. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Watercolour Society, Royal Society of Portrait Painters and elsewhere and is represented in many public collections.

John Stanton Ward


Signed and dated 1960
Pen and ink, pencil and watercolour



47 by 63 cm., 18 ½ by 24 ¾ in.
(frame size 64.5 by 80.5 cm., 25 ¼ by 31 ¾ in.)

Private collection since 1961.

Ward was born in Hereford, where his father, Russell Stanton Ward, ran an antiques shop and restored paintings. He studied at the Hereford School of Arts and Crafts before winning a place to the Royal College of Art in 1936, where he studied under Gilbert Spencer, Charles Mahoney and Alan Sorrell and won the prize for drawing. During World War II he served in the Royal Engineers, using his drawing skills to design pillboxes, and later taking part in the D-Day landings. He was posted to Belgium after the war before returning to the Royal College to graduate in 1946.

Ward worked as a painter, illustrator and teacher, happy to work in oils, watercolour, pastel and pen and ink. He painted portraits, landscapes, interiors and architectural subjects, undertaking portraits of members of the royal family, businessmen and celebrities including the Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal and the christenings of Prince William and Prince Harry. Fifteen of his portraits are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery and he held one man shows at Agnew’s and the Maas Gallery. As a prolific illustrator he worked on guides to Herefordshire and North Yorkshire and produced illustrations for 

from 1948 to 1952 and illustrated many books including 

 H E Bates’s The Darling Buds of May (1958).

 As a teacher he gave lessons in drawing to the Prince of Wales and taught at for a time at Wimbledon School of Art.

In 1956 he became an associate member of the Royal Academy, being elected a full member in 1966. He was a Trustee of the Royal Academy from 1985 to 1993. In 1997 he resigned from the Royal Academy in protest at the Sensation exhibition and never re-joined. He exhibited at the 

Royal Academy, Royal Watercolour Society, Royal Society of Portrait Painters 

and elsewhere and is represented in many public collections.


Glasses, Branches and Paper, watercolour drawing by John Ward

Austin Taylor (1908 - 1992)

Austin Taylor was born in Bolton, Lancashire.   The family emigrated to Winnipeg in Canada in 1912, and in 1917 his father, who had joined the Canadian Army, was killed in France.  At the age of fourteen Austin was obliged to leave school and work to support his family.  During this time he took evening classes at the Winnipeg School of Art where he was taught by “Group of Seven” artist Lemoine Fitzgerald.  He was able to use his drawing skills working as an illustrator for Bridgens, the outfitters, making drawings for their mail-order catalogues.  In 1943 he was called up but never served outside Canada.  Following the war he studied in the USA, joining the Art Students’ League in New York.  He emigrated to England in 1948 and set himself up as an artist.  He married Winifred, who supported him on her teacher’s salary and also posed as his model in the evenings.  He exhibited at the Leicester Galleries, Redfern Gallery and St George’s Gallery.  In 1980 he entered for the Greater London Council’s Spirit of London art competition, winning second prize for a painting of the London Underground.  The following year he entered the competition again and won first prize.  A posthumous retrospective exhibition of his work was held at Duncan Campbell Fine Art, London.  Works by him are in the collections of the Canadian War Museum, London Transport Museum and Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow.

Austin Taylor



Signed l.r.: Austin; inscribed with title and bears artist’s studio stamp on the reverse
Watercolour over pencil
Unframed



(mount size 40.5 by 48.5 cm., 16 by 19 in.)



Austin Taylor was born in Bolton, Lancashire. The family emigrated to Winnipeg in Canada in 1912, and in 1917 his father, who had joined the Canadian Army, was killed in France. At the age of fourteen Austin was obliged to leave school and work to support his family. During this time he took evening classes at the Winnipeg School of Art where he was taught by “Group of Seven” artist Lemoine Fitzgerald. He was able to use his drawing skills working as an illustrator for Bridgens, the outfitters, making drawings for their mail-order catalogues. In 1943 he was called up but never served outside Canada. Following the war he studied in the USA, joining the Art Students’ League in New York. He emigrated to England in 1948 and set himself up as an artist. He married Winifred, who supported him on her teacher’s salary and also posed as his model in the evenings. He exhibited at the Leicester Galleries, Redfern Gallery and St George’s Gallery. In 1980 he entered for the Greater London Council’s Spirit of London art competition, winning second prize for a painting of the London Underground. The following year he entered the competition again and won first prize. A posthumous retrospective exhibition of his work was held at Duncan Campbell Fine Art, London. Works by him are in the collections of the Canadian War Museum, London Transport Museum and Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow.

Trafalgar Square

WILLIAM SHACKLETON, NEAC
(1872-1933)

The Golden Cloud

Signed twice l.l. and indistinctly inscribed l.r.; signed and inscribed on the reverse: “The Golden Cloud” a study for the background of “The Passing Hour”/Wm Shackleton, 111 New Kings Road, SW6
Oil on paper
Framed

30 by 37 cm., 11 ¾ by 14 ½ in.
(frame size 48.5 by 56 cm., 19 by 22 in.)

Provenance:
The artist’s studio sale.

A study for the artist’s 1904 oil painting The Passing Hour, now in the collection of the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate.

William Shackleton was born in Bradford, the son of a paper manufacturer and merchant. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and then studied art at Bradford Technical College. In 1893 he won a scholarship to the National Art Training School (later to become the Royal College of Art), where he gained a British Institute Scholarship in 1896. This enabled him to study in Paris and Italy. On returning to London, he took a studio in Chelsea, sharing it with Philip Connard and Oliver Onions. He would spend many of the summer months West Sussex, joining Edward Stott and his artistic community based around the South Downs village of Amberley. After 1914 he moved to a cottage close to Gordale Scar, near Malham, in the Yorkshire Dales. There the dramatic landscape would feature in many of his later paintings.

Greatly influenced by Turner and George Frederic Watts in his colouring, atmosphere and impressionist handling, Shackleton developed a personal vision of the spirituality of nature which was reflected in his symbolist paintings which often depicted the mysticism of life and destiny via the myths and legends of antiquity. He described his own work as “conscientious symbolism”.

Shackleton exhibited widely sending being a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and many other major venues both in London and regionally. He also represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1910 and again in 1922. He held solo shows at the Goupil Gallery in 1913 and at the Twenty-One Gallery in 1910 and 1922. In 1933 a memorial exhibition was held at the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford. Works by him are in many public collections.


William Shackleton - The Golden Cloud

Ian Hay

IAN HAY
(Born 1940)

Cars Rusting

Signed l.r.: Ian Hay; bears title and dated 1973 on exhibition label on the backboard
Watercolour and gouache
Framed

44 by 88 cm., 17 ¼ by 34 ¾ in.
(frame size 64 by 107 cm., 25 ¼ by 42 in.)

Provenance:
M D Butler, Esq., 1973.

Exhibited:
Colchester, The Minories, Storm over Valhalla Exhibition, 1973, no.52.

An associated charcoal study for the present work is in the collection of the Tate Gallery, London.

Ian Hay was born in Harwich and studied at the Colchester School of Art before going on to the Royal College of Art, winning a prize for landscape painting in 1963. After a time as a visiting lecturer at the St Martin’s School of Art (1863-1977) and as a tutor at the Norwich School of Art (1971-1975) he spent many years teaching at the Colchester School of Art where he was Senior Lecturer in Drawing from 1978 to 2001.

In the early 1970s Hay began a series of drawings of scrap vehicles. The present work features a number of abandoned military and commercial vehicles which he spotted from a train window close to the railway embankment at Ardleigh. He later returned to the site and made sketches of the rusting, abandoned Second World War cars and lorries in their overgrown surroundings.

Hay is a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy.


Cars Rusting by Ian Hay

I am delighted to be once again participating in The Armchair Art Fair.  The fair is online only and my contributions to the catalogue appear below.  

All can be viewed by appointment in London or Oxfordshire.

Prices are inclusive of UK shipping/postage.  Please contact me for quotes for overseas shipping.

The Armchair Art Fair - Autumn 2023

Online Exhibition

Paul Sandby

John Everett Millais

Arthur Boyd Houghton

George Denholm Armour

William Edward Frost

George Elgar Hicks

Alfred Adalbert Boese

Harold Speed

Egon Josef Kossuth

James Joshua Guthrie

Lionel Durieu

Theodore Roussel

Bernard Sleigh

Charles March Gere

Henry Woods

Jules Lessore

Jules Lessore

Rex Vicat Cole

John Whitlock Codner

Arthur Wardle

William Shackleton

John Dronsfield

Randolph Schwabe

Cecil Beaton

Cecil Beaton

Oliver Messel

Oliver Messel

John Sergeant

Mary Adshead

Frank Dobson

John Sergeant

Frederick George Swaish

John Stanton Ward

Austin Taylor

William Shackleton

Ian Hay