Lukas Kirner

Lukas Kirner, Portrait Of Johann Georg Finckh

1828

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...

This mid-18th-century half-length German portrait depicts a middle-aged aristocrat wearing armour and a wig. Despite his heavily-clad appearance, it’s likely that this rather noncha...

Medium: Oil on Canvas Board Richard Williams MAD #508 "John 'Boo-Hoo' Boehner 'The Weeper of the House'" Illustration Original Art (EC/Warners, 2011). The comically sad expression o...

Portrait of a Monkey with Wine Jug Zacharias Noterman (Belgium & France 1824-1890) Initialed "Z N" l.r. Oil on board 8 x 6 inches PROVENANCE: Galerie Tamenaga, Paris (label verso); Louvre des Antiquaires, Paris; Berman Swarttz, Los Angeles, California, Marcella Swarttz, Beverly Hills, California     8 x 6 inches Zacharias Notermann (1820 in Ghent – 1890 in Paris) was a Belgian painter and printmaker who specialized in scenes with monkeys engaging in human activities (the so-called singeries), as well as in paintings of dogs. He also produced images and scenes of traveling circuses. Zacharias Noterman was born in Ghent in the family as the son of an artist-decorator. He was originally trained by his older brother Emmanuel Noterman, genre and animal painter active in Antwerp. Noterman continued his art education at the Academy of fine arts Antwerp. Zacharie Noterman...