George Frederic Watts

Portrait Of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone By George Frederic Watts

1867

Attributed to Lemuel Abbott 1760-1803 | English Portrait of Horatio Nelson Oil on canvas This previously unknown portrait is an important discovery in British Naval history. In Admiral Lord Nelson's illustrious and well-studied life, there existed a "silent period" spanning 16 years during which no known portraits of Nelson existed. The discovery of this 1790 portrait, rendered just before his reentry into the Navy, is a significant development for Nelson scholars, adding new insight into the leader's life prior to his legendary command as Admiral of the British Navy. Almost certainly painted by Lemuel Abbott, the official portraitist of Admiral Nelson, the rendering depicts the naval titan in casual dress. This is one of the two final depictions of Nelson before he acquired the war-inflicted injuries that marked his later years. In 1790, Britain was at peace, and Lord Nelson found himself residing in Burnham Thorpe with his newlywed wife, Frances. Having served with great distinction in South America and the West Indies, he garnered much local acclaim. Yet, the uncertainty of returning to the sea weighed heavily on his mind. At the age of thirty, he lived the life of a country gentleman managing his estate. Only one other much smaller portrait of Nelson in civilian attire exists, a much smaller rendering from 1800 currently held at the National Portrait Gallery. Compelling and atmospheric, the oil on canvas offers viewers a rare glimpse into the visage of a youthful and resolute Nelson, a man driven by an unwavering desire to forge his reputation in the art of naval warfare. This portrait had long been believed by the Nelson family to portray Edmund Nelson, Horatio Nelson's father. When connoisseur Jeremy Knight acquired this treasure directly from the Nelson family, he postulated that the work actually depicted the famed Admiral and not his father, as it was painted around 1790, and the elder Edmund Nelson would have been 68 years old at that time. Knight then hired the renowned Nelson scholar Martin Downer, the former Sotheby's expert and author of the bestselling books Nelson's Purse and Nelson's Lost Jewel, to confirm his hunch. It has now been confirmed by Martin Downer that this portrait is the missing...

Follower of Pierre Gobert 18th century French The Duke and Duchess of Burgundy Oil on canvas Refinement and intricacy characterize these royal portra...

John William Godward 1861-1922 British Cytheris Signed and dated "J.W. Godward / 1922" (upper left) Oil on canvas A classical beauty is captured in a moment of idle reflection in this stunning oil on canvas by John William Godward. Celebrated as one of the most important classical painters at the turn of the century, Godward's career was devoted to a segment of Classicism known as the Marble School, with Greco-Roman subjects placed within architectural settings. His elegant subjects are depicted with a degree of sensuality and technical mastery that remains unsurpassed. The present work, entitled Cytheris, embodies Godward’s lifelong preoccupation with depicting beautiful young women in classically-inspired dress. Cytheris is a nickname associated with Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who was said to have been born of the waves off the coast of the Greek island Cytherea. The title points to the sitter's beauty, but also, as Godward scholar Vern Swanson suggests, perhaps indicates she is a priestess of the cult of Aphrodite, while her soft blue head covering and downward gaze convey a virginal quality. Beautifully rendered with Godward's signature technical perfection, the piece embodies the sensual, graceful languor that permeates his greatest works. Raised in Wimbledon, England, Godward debuted at London’s Royal Academy exhibition in 1887. By the subsequent decade, the burgeoning artist was on a steady ascent to artistic success. Having fallen under the influence of British Neoclassical Revivalists Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Lord Frederic Leighton, and Sir Edward John Poynter, Godward quickly adopted, if not rivaled, their style. He envisioned similar scenes of the ancient world, seamlessly blending antiquity and beauty in breathtaking compositions. The sensuality and mystery of Godward’s maidens, combined with his impressive antique backdrops...

William Clarke Wontner 1857-1930 British Portrait of a Beauty Signed and dated "W. Wontner 1918" (lower left) Oil on canvas Classical beauty a...

A Salvation Army Santa looks on with a mixture of fatigue and disinterest as a group of children tell him their Christmas gift wish lists in this lighthearted composition by leading American illustrator Leslie Thrasher. This painting was created for the December 20, 1930 issue of Liberty Magazine, for which the artist illustrated covers on a weekly basis for six consecutive years. Thrasher is known for his scenes of everyday American life imbued with a sense of humor, qualities represented to great effect in this charming painting. Born in 1889 in Piedmont, West Virginia, Thrasher studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts as a teenager and received a scholarship to study art abroad in Paris. Upon his return, he began studying under Howard Pyle, known as the “father of American illustration.” Thrasher sold his first cover illustration to the Saturday Evening Post in 1912, four years before Norman Rockwell’s first Post cover, and he would go on to produce over 360 magazine covers throughout his career. He painted humorous, relatable scenes of everyday life in America with colorful characters set against white backgrounds. He was also a successful commercial artist, painting advertisements for Cream of Wheat, Chesterfield Cigarettes...

Hubert Ritzenhofen 1879-1961 German Egg Tapping on Easter Sunday Signed and dated "H. Ritzenhofen 05" (lower right) Oil on canvas This grand domestic tableau was painted by estee...

Oil Painting Portrait of John Campbell, 4th Duke of Argyll,, att to John Vanderbank (1694-1739) Housed in a swept frame which has been restored after photo. Canvas Size 50" x 40", Fr...

Andre Minaux (French 1923 - 1986) "Femme et Homards" / Woman with Lobsters. Oil on canvas. Features a young woman holding one lobster while two others sit on a counter before her. ...

Nancy Lamb (American, born 1956), sculptor and painter. Formally trained at Texas Christian University and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, whe...

Listing includes framing with UV plexi, free shipping to the continental US and a 14-day return policy. Diana (Spencer), Princess of Wales from the series “All About Eve...

Nino Giuffrida (Sicilian, 1924, active in France) Un Garçon avec des Fruits • Oil on canvas, ca. 41 x 33 cm • Frame, made by the renowned framer Knöll from Zürich, ca. 54 x 46 cm • Signed top left Born in 1924 in Sicily, Nino already attended the artistic high school in Catania at the age of 17, where he befriended fellow painters including Pippo Aleo and Giovanni Calogero. At that time, he painted with passion everything he saw, landscapes, seascapes, still lifes. After a first attempt to come to France with his friend Giovanni in 1948, aborted for lack of a visa. Nino finally arrived at the Gare de Lyon on December 8, 1949 and settled at number 30 rue Gabrielle in Montmartre. Nino began to paint Paris. Like many Montmartre artists of this period, while he painted all day long, he moved about in the evening on the terraces of the cafés of Montmartre and Saint-Germain-des-Prés to transform himself into a portrait painter and randomly sketch the customers in restaurants. Nino then devoted himself more and more to the painting of children, which became his favorite theme of inspiration. Pierre Imbourg, journalist and art critic, wrote of him: "Montmartre, the land of little ‘Poulbots’, inspiring Nino to record in his mind all these childrens faces whose intense facial expression he would endevour to reproduce". It was also at this time that his career as a Montmartre painter influenced by cubism began. With the disappearance of the art galleries in Montmartre, Nino decides to settle on the French Riviera, in Cannes then in Vallauris. From 1952 his personal exhibitions follow one another and Nino becomes an international painter: Rome, Brussels, Chicago, Copenhagen, Helsingborg and Aüs in Sweden, in Geneva, in Kourou in Guyana... In Paris, he manages the Galerie de la Colonne...

The theme of "La Stanza" ("the Room"), from which the exhibition takes the title, wants to resume intimacy and introspection that only a domestic environment manages to give. The wal...