Sir William Blake Richmond

The Watcher, English Aesthetic Movement Mid-19th Century

‘Melancholic Sappho’ by Arthur Hill RBA (1841-1908). The painting – which depicts the celebrated poet of Ancient Greece appealing to the Goddess Aphrodite, with the Parthenon on the ...

‘Awakening’ by Herbert James Draper (1864-1920). Academy Fine Paintings is fully conversant with the latest US Government import duties and the legal exemptions under the US Constit...

‘Guinevere’ by Norman Prescott-Davies R.B.A, R.C.A. (1861-1915). Academy Fine Paintings is fully conversant with the latest US Government import duties and the legal exemptions und...

This stunning British Victorian Pre-Raphaelite Royal Academy exhibited oil painting is by noted historical female artist and suffragette Jessie MacGregor. She was tutored by Lord Frederick Leighton at the Royal Academy art schools in the 1870's and his influence can be seen here. Painted in 1892 and exhibited that year, the subject matter is when Dante, (1265-1321) later an Italian Florentine poet, first met Beatrice, the love of his life when he was nine. They met in a gathering at her father's palazzo in Florence. She was a few months younger than Dante and dressed in a crimson dress. They never actually spoke for another nine years although Dante often observed her. They were both married off during this time, as was the custom then and Beatrice died aged only 24. Dante remained devoted to Beatrice for the rest of his life and she was his principal inspiration for much of his well known work, such as La Vita Nuova (The New Life) and La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy). (see below biography for more details on Dante and Beatrice). This stunning Pre-Raphaelite oil painting depicts Beatrice kneeling on the grass, holding flowers and gazing up at Dante as he stands beside her, hands over her head, perhaps miming crowning her. Other children and their maids dance around them. Beyond them is a Florentine garden with beautiful arches and some figures to the right. To the left one can glimpse the landscape under a summer's sky. MacGregor has portrayed superb detail in the figures expressions and clothing with rich red and gold tones and the vivid blue sky echoing in the little boy's tunic. The brushwork is fantastic. MacGregor painted some fantastic paintings in her time, many of which were exhibited and now hang in art galleries. This painting is a superb example of her work, with excellent provenance and would grace any wall. Signed twice 'Jessie Macgregor/1892' lower right. Provenance. Anon. sale, Sotheby's, Belgravia, 11 December 1972, lot 195. Exhibited London, Royal Academy, 1892, no. 905 entitled In the Childhood of Dante. From this time forward love ruled my heart. Literature Royal Academy Illustrated, 1892, p. 78. Condition. Oil on canvas, 65 inches by 35 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in a gilt frame with ornate flower corners and reeded edge, 87 inches by 57 inches, in good condition. Jessie MacGregor (1847–1919) was a British painter. She was born in Liverpool to a Scottish father, Alexander (1820-1898) and Liverpudlian mother, Sarah (1820-1894). She had an older brother and 7 younger siblings. MacGregor first learned drawing at the drawing academy in Liverpool run by her grandfather Andrew Hunt, a landscape painter. Her mother taught her to use water colours. Her parents went to live in London and she began to study painting there, becoming a pupil at the Royal Academy Schools in 1870 for seven years where her teachers were Lord Leighton, P. H. Calderon, R.A., and John Pettie, R.A. She won a gold medal at the Royal Academy for history painting in December 1871, the prescribed subject being An Act of Mercy. She was the second woman after Louisa Starr's gold medal in 1867, and the last woman to do so until 1909. She first exhibited at the RA whilst still a student, in 1871. She continued with a historical genre when history paintings were broadening their reach towards literature and romance. Her subjects were almost always women or children. MacGregor was made an Academician for the Liverpool Academy of Art in 1874. By 1880 she was using a studio on Elm Tree Road and exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy. in 1884 her brother Archibald also started working from this address and they both had paintings at the RA that year. In 1888 she moved studio to Hill Road St John's Wood. In 1892 MacGregor had two painting at the RA, a portrait of Miss Phyllis Eden and our painting, In the Childhood of Dante. This was described as a fresh bit of Italian Childhood and harmonious colour grouping by the Western Daily Press. Portraits rarely got a mention in the papers but narrative works were much more popular. She lectured widely for the Victorian University extension scheme at the Arts Clubs of Liverpool, the National Gallery and Leighton House museum and other regional centres. MacGregor had a studio in Chalcot Gardens Hampstead from 1900 and began to get involved with women's issues. In 1904 she was on the committee of the Lyceum Club London along side Henrietta...

Romantic, Pre-Raphaelite painting titled 'Cinderella', this oil on canvas painting is in the Victorian period after a painting by Sir John Everett Millais noted to be in the collection of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber...

This stunning British Victorian Pre-Raphaelite oil painting is by noted artist Arthur Hughes. It was painted circa 1874 and has extensive provenance. The composition is of a novice n...

This stunning circular 19th century oil painting is by noted prolific Royal Academy exhibited artist Rudolf Lehmann. A portrait artist, German born Lehmann moved to England in 1866 w...

‘Diana Nemorensis’ by Max Nonnenbruch (1857-1922). The painting – which depicts the Roman Goddess Diana of the Woods beside Lake Nemi – is signed by the artist and presented in a fi...

Hebe with Zeus mythological nude by Eduard Buchler 19th Century Hebe is the daughter of Zeus and his sister-wife Hera. Pindar in Nemean Ode 10 refers to her as the most beautiful of...

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY In “My Best Friend” Girard has captured a tender symbiotic relationship between the woman and her sweet pet. The entire piece swirls with the soft beauty and magical exchange shared by the two individuals. The frame does not enclose so much as enfolds the scene and its decorations are an integral part of the work. Upon close inspection tiny animal figures cavort in the air adding to the spell - almost like fairy characters from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream.” The jewelry is beautifully render as are the loving expressions of the faces of both the animal and the woman. The composition is filled with objects and figures but captured softly and in rich detail. The figures appear to be completely self-absorbed and the decorative elements about their heads could suggest the intensity of their thoughts and feelings. Girard was a Detroit figurative painter and teacher at College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Michigan where he taught for 30 years. Other College for Creative Studies (formerly Center for Creative Studies) faculty and graduates include Richard Jerzy, Harry Bertoia, Doug Chaing (currently director of Lucas Film), Stephen Dinehart (game maker, writer, designer connected with The David Lynch Foundation), Tyree Guyton (international artist), Herb Babcock, Jerome Feretti, Kevin Siembieda (writer, designer and publisher of role-playing games), Renee Radell, Philip Pearlstein, Charles McGee (nationally recognized African American sculptor of animal and dancing spirits), Philip Pearlstein (2000 Honorary Doctorate, Modern Realism style), and John Louis Krieger...