William Shackleton

Study for The Song of Evening - British Symbolist painting by William Shackleton

1900

FREDERICK CAYLEY ROBINSON, ARA, RWS (1862-1927) A Summer Evening Signed l.r.: CAYLEY-ROBINSON; inscribed on the reverse: A Summer Evening/Exhibited at Leicester Galleries Oil on paper 16.5 by 18.5 cm., 6 ½ by 7 ¼ in. (frame size 38.5 by 40 cm., 15 ¼ by 15 ¾ in.) Exhibited: London, Leicester Galleries, Small Paintings and Sketches by the Late F. Cayley Robinson, ARA, RWS, December 1929 Born in Brentford-on-Thames, the son of a stockbroker, Robinson began his artistic training at the St John’s Wood...

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...

Provenance: David Davis, Los Angeles, California. Toni Lynn Russo, Los Angeles, California; her estate until 2024. Exhibited: Münchener Glaspalast Jahres Ausstellung, 1902, no. 1071...

This abstract oil painting underscores the difference between notions of dark and light, challenging our ideas of how we distinguish good and evil. The firefly is a nocturnal creatur...