Thomas Kent Pelham (fl.1860-1891) - Late 19th Century Oil, After the Harvest

Unknown

A beautiful Victorian oil landscape depicting late Summer afternoon in a hay field. A group of figures work at harvesting the hay into stooks. ...

Unsigned. Well presented in a gilt frame with pierced detailing and foliate scrolling to the cove. On canvas.

This absolutely lovely British Victorian oil painting is by noted Birmingham born artist James John Hill and has some excellent provenance below. The painting actually stayed in Birmingham for many years, hanging in Heathfield Hall, the former residence of inventor and engineer James Watt, but owned at that time by Thomas Pemberton. It then moved to Berwick House in Shropshire. Entitled The Gleaner and painted in1863, it is a charming half length portrait of a young woman with a sheaf of wheat under her arm. She is stood beneath trees and the wheat field is beyond. She is dressed in a lovely pink garment and wearing a brown felt hat, to shade her face from the sun, her dark hair cascading down her shoulder, The hat is decorated with a poppy. The soft tones and sympathetic rendering of the young woman make this a stunning 19th century oil painting with excellent provenance. The painting is housed in its original gilt frame with a beautiful oak leaf motif. Signed and dated 1863 lower left. Provenance. Thomas Pemberton, Heathfield Hall, Handsworth, Birmingham. (Heathfield Hall was the former residence of the inventor and engineer James Watt. Following his death the house had several occupiers including local luminaries Thomas Pemberton and George Tangye). His sale, Christie's, 30 April 1874, lot 95 (69gns to James Watson) Berwick House, Shropshire. (James Watson (1817-1895) was an English merchant, dairy herdsman and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1892) Condition. Oil on canvas, 34 inches by 28 inches unframed, in good condition. Frame. Housed in its original gilt frame with oak leaf motif, 42 inches by 36 inches and in good condition. James John Hill RBA (1811 – 27 January 1882), known also by his alias J. J. Hill, was an English landscape and portrait painter, known for his many rustic paintings and portraits of Lady Burdett-Coutts. James John Hill was born sometime in 1811 in Broad Street, Birmingham to Daniel Hill, plater, and Elizabeth Rowlinson, the daughter of a brass founder. He was educated at Hazelwood School, a school founded by the educational reformer Rowland Hill...

Henry Room, noted Birmingham artist, painted this lovely Victorian portrait oil painting. It was painted in 1842 and exhibited at the Society of British Artists the same year, entitled Forsaken Innocence. It is a charming half length portrait of a young lady in a hat, dark ringlets gleaming and ruby red lips slightly smiling. She is holding a sheaf of wheat with trees beyond. The detail and brushwork are lovely. A super pastoral oil painting and an accomplished example of Henry Room's work with excellent provenance. . Signed lower left. Indistinctly inscribed to label verso. Provenance. Exhibited at the Society of British Artists 1842 no. 63 entitled Forsaken Innocence. Mentioned in “German Compliments to British Art,” The Art-Union (Dec. 1842), 279-281. Comments by Dr. Henry Merz on the exhibition of the Society of British Artists (Suffolk Street, Pall-Mall East); p.280: “In this exhibition we find also the peculiar sentimentalism of the English school, in No. 129, ‘Sterne’s Poor Maria,’ by F. Stacpoole; No. 63, ‘Forsaken Innocence’ (a coquettish young lady with a sheaf of gleanings in her apron), by H. Room” Berwick House, Shropshire. James Watson was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham in 1818, He bought Berwick House In August 1875. With the renovations on the mansion house nearing completion, by 1879 Watson turned his sights to forming a collection of suitably impressive paintings and furnishings for the recreated rooms. Condition. Oil and panel, 30 inches by 25 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in an ornate gilt frame, 38 inches by 33 inches and in good condition. Henry Room (1802–1850) was an English portrait-painter, from an evangelical background in Birmingham. Henry Room was born in Newhall Street, the son of John Room, a japanner, and studied at Joseph Barber's drawing school on Great Charles Street. An original member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, he was also one of the group of artists that broke away from the Society in 1828 to exhibit at a rival institution in Temple Row. Room was in London in the late 1820s, sharing a studio with Peter Hollins in Old Bond Street. He was a deacon in the church of John Morison. He was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy from 1826 onwards and completed many portraits of missionaries, academics and reformers which were engraved by John Cochran. Room maintained close links with Birmingham and was appointed as auditor for the newly formed Birmingham Society of Artists in 1842. He had a reputation as a painter of portraits, and received commissions, some of his portraits being engraved. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1826. He practised for some time at Birmingham. He painted a portrait of Thomas Clarkson...