French School

Fine 18th Century French Old Master Oil Painting Figure in Arcadian Landscape

The Close of Day English artist, second half 18th century circle of Thomas Gainsborough (British 1727-1788) oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 24.5 x 29 inches provenance: private colle...

Artist: English School, early 1800's, circle of John Constable (British 1776-1837) Title: The Woodland Path Medium: oil on canvas, framed Size: 12 x 22 inches Picture: 9 x 18 inches Provence: from a private collection in East Anglia...

Artist/ School: French School, 20th century Title: Mythological Scene with Figures in Classical Landscape Medium: oil painting on board, unframed Size: board: 19.75 x 27 inches ...

Artist/ School: French School, 19th century Title: Classical Landscape with figures amongst ancient ruins. Medium: oil painting on canvas, unframed. canvas: 24.5 x 36 inches P...

Travellers in a Country Landscape circle of Jacques d'Arthois (Flemish 1613-1686) oil on canvas, framed frame: 13.5 x 18.5 inches canvas: 11 x 16 inches provenance: private collectio...

Fishing at Dawn English artist after an earlier work (see inscription verso) signed oil painting on canvas, framed inscribed verso framed: 23 x 31 inches canvas: 18 x 26inches proven...

The Great Fire of London in September 1666 was one of the greatest disasters in the city’s history. The City, with its wooden houses crowded together in narrow streets, was a natural fire risk, and predictions that London would burn down became a shocking reality. The fire began in a bakery in Pudding Lane, an area near the Thames teeming with warehouses and shops full of flammable materials, such as timber, oil, coal, pitch and turpentine. Inevitably the fire spread rapidly from this area into the City. Our painting depicts the impact of the fire on those who were caught in it and creates a very dramatic impression of what the fire was like. Closer inspection reveals a scene of chaos and panic with people running out of the gates. It shows Cripplegate in the north of the City, with St Giles without Cripplegate to its left, in flames (on the site of the present day Barbican). The painting probably represents the fire on the night of Tuesday 4 September, when four-fifths of the City was burning at once, including St Paul's Cathedral. Old St Paul’s can be seen to the right of the canvas, the medieval church with its thick stone walls, was considered a place of safety, but the building was covered in wooden scaffolding as it was in the midst of being restored by the then little known architect, Christopher Wren and caught fire. Our painting seems to depict a specific moment on the Tuesday night when the lead on St Paul’s caught fire and, as the diarist John Evelyn described: ‘the stones of Paul’s flew like grenades, the melting lead running down the streets in a stream and the very pavements glowing with the firey redness, so as no horse, nor man, was able to tread on them.’ Although the loss of life was minimal, some accounts record only sixteen perished, the magnitude of the property loss was shocking – some four hundred and thirty acres, about eighty per cent of the City proper was destroyed, including over thirteen thousand houses, eighty-nine churches, and fifty-two Guild Halls. Thousands were homeless and financially ruined. The Great Fire, and the subsequent fire of 1676, which destroyed over six hundred houses south of the Thames, changed the appearance of London forever. The one constructive outcome of the Great Fire was that the plague, which had devastated the population of London since 1665, diminished greatly, due to the mass death of the plague-carrying rats in the blaze. The fire was widely reported in eyewitness accounts, newspapers, letters and diaries. Samuel Pepys recorded climbing the steeple of Barking Church from which he viewed the destroyed City: ‘the saddest sight of desolation that I ever saw.’ There was an official enquiry into the causes of the fire, petitions to the King and Lord Mayor to rebuild, new legislation and building Acts. Naturally, the fire became a dramatic and extremely popular subject for painters and engravers. A group of works relatively closely related to the present picture have been traditionally ascribed to Jan Griffier...

This small landscape shows a hunting scene: two riders are chasing a stag with their dogs at the edge of a forest. Signed by Peter von Bemmel, it is typical of the production of this...

A very fine painting by the renowned seascape painter Arthur Joseph Meadows,Off Calais; fishing fleet returning at low tide. Housed in an antique style gilt frame the size overall is...

S Lawson Booth : Country House in extensive landscape with cattle in the foreground, oil on canvas signed and dated '98, 60cm x 90cm (35x23 inches approx image) size with frame appro...

James ward landscape oil Bringing in the Catch A charming scene of a family "bringing in the catch" showing figures outside a cottage, man pullng in the boat with his dog watching by...

This early 20th century oil on canvas depicts a nautical scene with a view of St Michaels Mount beyond. Although as yet, not attributed to a particular artist,this painting has cl...