Pre-Raphaelite Figurative Paintings

19th century Pre-Raphaelite painting of a Grecian beauty. Finely painted oil on canvas. British/American. In a custom hand made gilt frame. Unsigned. Stretcher inscribed with the dat...

This romantic 19th century idealised Pre Raphaelite portrait oil painting is by noted Scottish artist Robert Fowler. Painted circa 1890, the composition is a full length profile of ...

English Pre-Raphaelite artist from the late 19th century the work is slightly sketchy in appearance suggesting it was possibly an unfinished work or preparatory painting in advance o...

‘The Goddess Flora’ by Ralph Peacock (1868-1946). The painting – which depicts the Roman Goddess of Youth, and Springtime – is signed by the artist and features one of his favourite models, the English society beauty, Edith Brignall. It is one of three portraits of her painted by Peacock in the summer of 1897, the two others being in the collection of Tate Britain. The goddess Flora was a popular figure with the Pre-Raphaelite movement and also featured in paintings by both John William Waterhouse and Evelyn de Morgan. Academy Fine Paintings only offers artwork for sale in the finest condition it can be for its age, having been professionally cleaned, conserved, and re-varnished. Clients should also note that tracked and signed for international shipping is complimentary. Ralph Peacock entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1887 where he won a gold medal for figure painting, and (perhaps more surprisingly) the Creswick Prize for landscape painting. Whilst still at the Academy, Peacock was widely considered to be the most gifted English painter of his generation and the heir to the mantel of Leighton, Dicksee, and William Holman Hunt whose portrait he would go on to paint in 1902. An immensely popular figural painter, Peacock was much in demand in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain and painted many superb society portraits of young English society beauties. Of all his many illustrious patrons and sitters probably the most famous was US President Herbert Hoover, the two becoming life-long friends. Peacock also achieved great success internationally, winning a gold medal in Vienna in 1898 and another in Paris at the Exposition Universelle of 1900. Between 1888 and 1934 Ralph Peacock exhibited 94 paintings at the Royal Academy and numerous others at the Royal Society of British Artists, and the Grosvenor Gallery. Today, paintings by Peacock are to be found in the collections of Tate Britain and the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Dimensions: (framed) 79cm x 69½cm (31” x 27½”) Dimensions: (canvas only) 61cm x 50½cm (24” x 20”) Medium: Oil on canvas. Provenance: Private collection of Colonel Sir James Reynolds...

‘The Fallen Knight’ by Briton Rivière R.A. (1840-1920). This important mid-19th century Pre-Raphaelite oil painting is signed by the artist and dated 1863. The starting point for Rivière’s painting is an 18th century Scottish ballad about two crows who find a mortally wounded knight abandoned by his comrades, his hawk, his hound and even his lover. The ‘twa corbies’ hungrily discuss feasting on his corpse. However, unlike every other depiction of the story, here the crows are reduced to shadowy supporting characters in the background whilst the dying knight is deliberately placed front and centre as the focus of the composition. But not the sole focus. The entire mood and message of what would otherwise be a morbid tale is turned on its head by the inclusion of the little hare in the foreground. He (or she) is the one creature that has chosen to – literally – stand by the dying soldier. In Anglo-Saxon mythology the hare is a symbol of rebirth. Crucially, unlike the ballad on which it is based, the painting doesn’t dwell on the crows and death and those who profit from it, but instead on the knight and the hare and the promise of resurrection. Rivière’s painting recalls another Pre-Raphaelite masterpiece, ‘The Stonebreaker’ by Henry Wallis which depicts a manual labourer who has been worked to death. On the face of it, the theme of both paintings is the tragic hero exploited, victimized and abandoned, but in ‘The Fallen Knight’ Briton Rivière has chosen to add a note of optimism with the addition of this steadfast little hare. The artist revisited a similar theme twenty-five years later with his Royal Academy painting of 1888. In ‘Requiescat’, a dead knight in full armour lies in state and sitting beside the tomb, mourning his master, is a devoted hound. All of our paintings are offered in the finest condition they can be for their age having been professionally cleaned, conserved, and re-varnished. Clients should also note that tracked and signed for international shipping is complimentary. Briton Rivière trained under his father, the artist William Rivière (1806-1876), master of the drawing school at Cheltenham College and Oxford University. At the age of eleven, two of his pictures were exhibited at the British Institution, and at seventeen he made his Royal Academy debut. Whilst still in his teens Rivière came under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites and in particular John Everett Millais (1829-1896) who was so impressed with ‘Charity’, Riviere’s Royal Academy painting of 1870, that he sought out the young artist to convey his compliments. Briton Rivière’s great success came as a painter of animals, and in particular dogs and lions. By 1873, following the death of Sir Edwin Landseer, he was considered Britain’s greatest painter of animals. Rivière was elected Associate of the Royal Academy in 1878 and became a full Academician two years later. After the death of Millais in 1896, he was narrowly defeated by Sir Edward John Poynter in the vote for President of the Royal Academy. Today, paintings by Briton Rivière are held in the collections of Tate Britain, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Chrysler Museum of Art. Dimensions: (framed) 46¼cm x 61½cm (18¼” x 24¼”) Dimensions: (canvas only) 59cm x 75cm (23¼” x 29½”) Medium: Oil on canvas. Provenance: Circa 1860; with Robert Cumming...

Thomas Francis Dicksee 1819-1895 British Ophelia Initialed and dated "TFD 1865" (center right) Oil on canvas There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts. — Ophelia, Act IV, Scene 5, Hamlet This extraordinary oil by Thomas Francis Dicksee reflects the highly detailed compositions, richly hued palettes and literary symbolism championed by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Reminiscent of the paintings of Sir John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt...

‘The Beautiful Sentinel’ by Karl Wilhelm Gentz (German, 1822-1890). This large fine 19th century oil painting is signed by the artist and hangs in a gilded Orientalist frame. As wit...

John William Waterhouse, R.A. 1849-1917 I British Tristram and Isolde Signed and dated “J.W. Waterhouse/1916” (lower left) Oil on canvas The Pre-Raphaelites sought to perfectly render stories from literature and history with tremendous accuracy. Tristram and Isolde, also known as Tristan and Isolde, is based on the famed medieval Celtic...

A British oil on board Pre-Raphaelite painting of a mother and child in a coastal scene by Henry Robert Robertson. The work is signed bottom left and is presented in a fine period gilt frame. There is evidence of a museum label on the gilt mount and to the sides of the frame are secure mounts to suggest it has been shown in a museum. To the rear of the painted panel there is a trade label, unfortunately not fully decipherable, as over the top of that is another label with dedication to 'Annie Miller Robertson on her birthday 29th May 1863.' On the top of the frame and stretcher there is also a written reference to the collection of a Mrs Parsons (Alice) in Washington, USA. A charming jewel like painting of the type of romantic scene made famous by the Pre-Raphaelites. The artist has captured the beauty of the mother, her golden flowing hair and rustic shawl and dress, the child in a more luxurious fine red outfit. The sea in the distance as she walks along the shore. The gaze of both subjects locked on the artist and in turn us the viewer. Henry Robert Robertson, RE, RMS was born in Windsor in 1839 and illustrated a book called "Life in the Upper Thames" in 1875. He was also known as a figure and portrait painter. He exhibited widely, including the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of painters, etchers and engravers. The label to the back of the painting is very interesting, could it refer to Annie Miller a British woman who modelled for many paintings of the artists of the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood in the Victorian Era. Annie Miller (1835–1925) was an English artists' model who, among others, sat for the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais. The forward facing portrait by William Hunt and the sketch by Dante Rossetti...

A simply stunning oil on original canvas by the leading English Pre-Raphaelite painter and writer John Maler Collier. All Hallowe’en is a psychologically charged and mysterious composition, featuring a young woman clad in a nightgown who looks at her reflection in the haunting glow of a candle. Her expression is difficult to read, and the artist does not reveal what it is that has caught her eye behind her and what might be partially reflected in the glass. This work belongs to a series of “problem paintings” by the artist, which feature ambiguous and inconclusive dilemmas, many of which took place in domestic settings. Signature: Signed & dated lower left. Dimensions: Framed: 40"x56" Unframed: 34"x50" Provenance: Walter Herries Pollock, "The Hon. John Collier," The Art Annual, London, 1914, p. 6, illustrated John Collier began his artistic education with Sir Edward John Poynter before going to Paris and studying under J.P. Laurens. He also worked with Alma Tadema. He exhibited in London at the Royal Academy, at Suffolk Street and the Grosvenor Gallery between 1874 and 1893. He also exhibited at exhibitions in Sydney. He was a member of the Institute of Painters in Oil Colours. In 1932 he exhibited a Portrait of the Artist at the Salon des Artistes Français. Museum and Gallery Holdings: Blackburn: Hetty Sorrel; Portrait of A.N. Hornoy Florence (Uffizi): Self-portrait (1907, oil on canvas) London (National Portrait Gal.): Charles Robert Darwin (1883 (1881), oil on canvas, replica); Thomas Henry Huxley...

‘The Beautiful Sentinel’ by Karl Wilhelm Gentz (German, 1822-1890). This large fine 19th century oil painting is signed by the artist and hangs in a gilded Orientalist frame. As wit...

MARJORIE MAITLAND HOWARD (1898-1983) Cupid & Psyche Signed with monogram; signed and inscribed with title and the artist’s address on a label attached to the reverse Oil on board F...