Edward Ridley

Edward Ridley, 1920s Portrait Of A Woman, Watercolour

c. 1925

This fine mid-19th-century watercolour by Italian artist Girolamo Tubino (1805-1879) is after ‘La Velata’ (Woman with a Veil) by Raphael (1483-1520),...

This early 20th-century mixed media by K & K Hof Atelier Pietzner of Vienna depicts a respectable family within a neoclassical garden setting. With the advent of photography, afflue...

This mid-20th-century drawing by Russian artist Boris Sporykhin (1928-2020) depicts two girls reading within an interior. They also appear in an earlier oil painting, so it’s plausib...

This charming mid-19th-century oil painting attributed to English artist Edward John Cobbett (1815-1899) depicts a seated girl carrying a wicker basket within rolling scenery. Cobbett was a skilled English painter of landscapes and genre who exhibited regularly at London’s Royal Academy. This piece from around 1860 is emblematic of his rose-tinted escapism and celebrates the honest endeavours of rural life. The details are rendered skilfully, particularly the hands, skin tones and head. While the composition, with the horizon line crossing just beneath the shoulders, creates interest and permanence. He fathered twelve children, including eight daughters, so it’s plausible that some of them appeared in his portraits. The girl bears some resemblance to his depiction of ‘The Crofter's Daughter’. Born in Westminster, London, Cobbett was initially trained as a wood carver, probably by his father, who was a skilled ‘carver and gilder’. Evidently, the young man adopted the trade with considerable vigour, as some of his early carvings can be seen at York Minster. Around the age of 20, he began to pursue a career as an artist, and it's presumably at this point that he undertook formal tuition with the landscape painter Joseph William Allen (1803-1852). Allen was a founding member of the Society of British Artists, and his influence is evident. Following his 1833 debut at London’s Royal Academy, he matured into an artist of considerable merit, particularly popular among the rising middle classes. He was known by the Victorian press as one of the last great ‘bohemians’, thus associating him with a social and cultural milieu of freedom-loving, anti-establishment creatives. As a member of London’s Savage Club, his circle was a most intriguing one and included writers, artists, and musicians who sought to live on the fringes of society. This liberal sense of ‘joie de vivre’ translated through his work into depictions of ebullient country folk undertaking wholesome daily activities. Via his numerous rustic characters, he celebrated a simpler, albeit idealised, working-class utopia. The urban-dwelling bourgeois lapped it up, escaping into the abundance of an imagined moor, and vanishing into a community unplagued by formal rigour. Aside from the Royal Academy, his works were also shown at the British Institution, Liverpool Academy, and the Society of British Artists, where he was elected a member in 1856. He’s known to have collaborated with both William Shayer (1787-1879) and George Cole (1810-1883). He’s represented in numerous public collections, including at Glasgow Museum, the Walker Art Gallery, Worcester City Art Gallery, and York Art Gallery. Provenance: Private collection, UK. Artist’s auction maximum: £20,052 for ‘Rural Idyll (1859)’, Oil on canvas, De Veres...

Art Deco Girl with Car Mid-20th Century American Modernism Pin-Up Illustration Arthur Rosenman Ross (1913 - 1981) Deco Girl with Car, 1936 30 x 20 inches Oil on Canvas Board Signed Arthur ‘36 lower right Provenance: Estate of the artist. BIO Arthur Rosenman Ross was a key figure in automotive design at General Motors during America's "Golden Age" of auto design, the 1930's through the 1950s. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago from age 17, exhibiting a special interest for automotive renderings and the female figure. In 1934, he changed his name from Rosenman to Ross, fearing his Jewish ancestry could prejudice his career prospects. At age 20, he turned down job offers from MGM Studios in Hollywood and Duesenberg to work at General Motors alongside the Legendary Harley Earl in 1935. He was hand picked by Mr. Earl and assigned to GM's War and Camouflage Division in 1937 through WW2. It was during this pivotal period in which he executed some extraordinary military aircraft artworks, likely used between GM and America's military aeronautics companies in design preparation for WW2. General Motors played an important role in helping America's aircraft manufacturers preceding and during the war. Just after the war in 1945, Mr. Ross was rewarded by GM, being made Chief Designer of Cadillac, then two years later becoming Chief at Oldsmobile until his retirement in 1959. He was in large part responsible for some of GM's classic Cadillac designs such as the Cadillac Sixty Special, Fleetwood, LaSalle and GM's first concept car, the extraordinary Buick Y-Job. Mr. Ross was an exceptionally charismatic and vivacious man who quite by chance, befriended His idol, Salvador Dali at GM in 1955. They talked about art, cars and girls late into the evening, according to his son, Carter Ross. He had a gift in rendering the erotic arts...

- Price for both. - Signed at the bottom right. - Vietnam, 1946. Dimensions H : 33 cm L : 31 cm H : 12.9 in W : 12.2 in

An original Art Deco illustration hand-painted with ink and gouache on paper. The drawing features two elegant women with large windows and drapery in the background. This image was ...

Original Art Deco fashion drawing, ink, and wash on Vellum paper by French artist G. Ferro. The artwork features a stylish male model with a typical Art Deco overcoat. The piece is s...