1910s Portrait Paintings

Charming portait with Modernest colors. Provenance: Christie's Mercedes Matter, daughter of the artist, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York. Private Collection. Sale: Skinner, Inc...

Work on canvas Golden wooden frame 81 x 68 x 3 cm

This striking British Edwardian religious oil painting is by noted artist Francis 'Frank' Owen Salisbury or Frank O'Salisbury as he is largely known. Painted in 1911 it is a figurative landscape of soldiers on the battlefield. The two central characters, the 'Christian Soldiers' from the early crusades have halos and ride through the chaos on white horses. Shafts on light with angels illuminate them and also a crucifix. A very powerful Edwardian religious oil painting and an excellent example of O'Salisbury's work. painted in oil and illuminated in gold leaf. Signed and dated with monogram lower right 1911. Provenance. From Castle of Park, Aberdeenshire. A version of this painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy London in 1911 entitled the Passing of War. Condition. Oil on canvas, 36 inches by 24 inches unframed and in good condition. Frame. Housed a complementary frame, 44 inches by 32 inches framed and in good condition. Francis ("Frank") Owen Salisbury (18 December 1874 – 31 August 1962) was an English artist who specialised in portraits, large canvases of historical and ceremonial events, stained glass and book illustration. In his heyday he made a fortune on both sides of the Atlantic and was known as "Britain’s Painter Laureate". His art was steadfastly conservative and he was a vitriolic critic of Modern Art – particularly of his contemporaries Picasso, Chagall and Mondrian. His father, Henry Salisbury, described himself as a "plumber, decorator and ironmonger" (his mother was Susan Hawes), yet his son Frank would become one of the greatest society artists of his generation. One of 11 children, Salisbury was such a delicate child that he was educated at home, in the main by his student teacher sister, Emilie. He had only a few weeks formal schooling and began work by repairing bicycles at his father’s Cycle Depot in Harpenden. Uncertain as to his ability to find and maintain a job, the family determined that he be apprenticed, at the age of 15, to Henry James Salisbury, his eldest brother, who managed a major stained glass company in Alma Road, St Albans. He rapidly acquired all the practical skills of a stained glass artist and exhibited exceptional skills in the painterly detail that was applied to glass before its final firing. This led to his brother sponsoring him to attend Heatherley’s School of Art three days a week to further a career in painting. He then won a scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools which he attended for five years and where he won two silver medals and two scholarships, including the Landseer scholarship which funded his to travel to Italy in 1896. In due course he would have seventy exhibits accepted for the annual Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions, from 1899 until 1943, though he was never offered membership, which reportedly disappointed him very much. In 1901 he married Alice Maude (d. 1951), daughter of C. Colmer Greenwood, with whom he had several children, including twin daughters Monica and Sylvia. His first Royal Academy exhibit was a portrait of Alice and he often painted pictures of their children. It is for portraiture that he is best known. His speed in producing portraits stemmed from his painting his own twin daughters every morning for an hour and his career began with child portraiture and his painting the Hertfordshire gentry and members of the Harpenden Methodist Church. He had a studio at his home, Sarum Chase. A providential meeting with Lord Wakefield, founder of Castrol Oils and a Methodist philanthropist, saw his introduction to society portraiture. Salisbury’s being selected to paint the Boy Cornwell in the Battle of Jutland then brought him to the notice of Royalty. Lord Wakefield then arranged for him to paint President Woodrow Wilson whilst he was in London, but Wilson departed for Paris and the opportunity was lost. It was to be John W. Davis, American Ambassador to London, who encouraged Salisbury to go to the USA; Davis had met Salisbury at art receptions and had admired his child portraits. Twenty-five members of the Royal House of Windsor sat for Salisbury and he was the first artist to paint HM Queen Elizabeth II. In 1919 he painted a mural for the Royal Exchange, London National Peace Thanksgiving Service on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, 6th July 1919. He painted Winston Churchill on more occasions than any other artist; the two iconic images of Churchill – The Siren Suit and Blood, Sweat and Tears are both Salisbury images. Mayoral regalia was a ready made requisite for the Salisbury style with Councillor Sam Ryder (of Ryder Cup fame) as Mayor of St Albans being the most famous of his civic images. Other significant portraits include those of Richard Burton, Andrew Carnegie (posthumous), Sir Alan Cobham, Sir Robert Ludwig Mond, Maria Montessori...

This impressive late 19th century portrait oil painting is by British artist James Edward Barclay. The sitter is a Major in the Royal Marines, William Wynch George Back Willis who wa...

Jules Cheret (May 31, 1836 - September 23, 1932) was a French painter and lithographer who became a master of poster art. Often called the father of the modern poster. This piece is ...

"The Mate" (Cornish fisherman) by David W. Haddon (British, early 20th century) signed and dated 1914 oil on board, framed framed: 18 x 14 inches board: 16 x 12 inches provenance: pr...

Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964) The Wood Chopper, Brecksville, Ohio, c. 1917 Oil on masonite 33 x 24 inches "We were fortunate in that the two farms in Brecksville were still open to our visits. The urbanization of the township was then only beginning and we spent several summers there where I tried to capture something of the rural peace so soon to be erased from the countryside." - Wilcox Exhibited: “Water Colors and Oils by Frank N. Wilcox,” Cleveland Museum of Art, January 1937. Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School...

Dick Beer (b. London 1893 - d. Stockholm 1938) Portrait of Dr Mens III, 1918-1919 oil on board 70 x 50 cm stamp signed painted c. 1918-1919 Provenance: Within the family Beer until today Dick Beer (1893-1938) Dick Beer was born in London in 1893. His father, John Beer (1853-1906), was a Swedish painter from Stockholm who had a career mainly as a watercolour painter with motifs of horses from racetracks and fox hunts from the countryside. Barely fifteen years old, Dick Beer became an orphan and came to Sweden in 1907. Already in 1908-1909, he started at Althin's painting school in Stockholm. And later, at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1910-1912. His teachers were, among others, Gustaf Cederström, Oscar Björk and Alfred Bergström...

Charming portait with Modernest colors. Provenance: Christie's Mercedes Matter, daughter of the artist, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York. Private Collection. Sale: Skinner, Inc...

John B. Monaco 1916 painting and study of the John Singleton Copley portrait of John Hancock. San Francisco artist and San Francisco city documen...

ALFRED RETH 1884-1966 Budapest 1884-1966 Paris (Hungarian/French) Title: Portrait of the Musician Mazzi, 1912 Technique: Original Signed Oil pain...