Vale Studios Limited, Commercial Artist

Yesterday's Love, Love can Be True. The Heart can Betray

1950's

Pioneering Female Illustrator Barbara Briggs Bradley was an in-demand illustrator in the 1950s. Merrill Publishers of their famous children's books hired Barbara Briggs Bradley to d...

When the Wood Grows Dry "Good House Keeping Magazine" illustration How friendship and love were depicted in post-war America. There was a sense of innoc...

This brilliantly rendered female portrait by a major American post-war illustrator known for his stunningly glamorous women. Notice how all the elements of the composition work tog...

Legendary female illustrator creates a graphic and tightly designed triple portrait of her signature subjects. Kids! Signed lower right. Unframed on heavy illustration board. Grace Drayton had a recognizable style which is a hallmark of all great artists. Instantly recognizable, a Grace Drayton subject is a stylized child with a cherubic style, often with round faces, plump bodies, rosy cheeks, and a happy disposition. Three Rosy Cheek Children is an excellent example of her best work. Grace Drayton Born: Grace Gebbie October 14, 1878 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US Died: January 31, 1936 (aged 58) Cartoonist, Illustrator Grace G. Wiederseim Notable works Campbell Soup Kids Dolly Dimples Dolly Dingle...

This impeccably rendered mid-century double portrait of a quarreling man and woman exhibits a supreme academic training knowledge lost in almost all contemporary art. It features an ...

This work is meticulously and brilliantly rendered to capture not only the likeness of the sitter but spirit as well. The image is pushed to the forefront of the composition and s...

Primary Hughes' "McKenna" is an original, handmade gouache painting that depicts a portrait of a female model with her hair pulled into a low bun as sh...

Primary Hughes' (US based) "Red" is an original, handmade gouache painting that depicts a female model in three quarters view with red hair.

This vertical figurative painting in ink, gouache and pencil on paper portrays a strong female character in American Western pose and garb, dressed as a mountain man. The bright red ...

Léon François Comerre 1850-1916 French L'odalisque à l'éventail (The Odalisque with the Fan) Signed "Léon Comerre" (upper left) Oil on canvas Combinin...

John William Godward 1861-1922 British A Pompeian Lady Signed and dated "J.W. Godward 1904" (lower right, partially covered by frame) Oil on canvas One of the last and greatest Victorian neoclassical painters, John William Godward is celebrated for his flawlessly executed images of graceful women posed in idealized ancient settings. In this work, entitled A Pompeian Lady, a classical beauty is caught idling in a moment of quiet, solitary reflection. Godward's elegant subjects are depicted with a degree of technical mastery that remains unsurpassed, and the work's dramatic palette, luxurious fabrics and classical vision are all characteristics of his unique take on the neoclassical style. Godward was unmatched in terms of his technical skill and attention to detail. A master of contrasting textures, he paints a diaphanous gown draping against the model’s smooth, milky white skin, which sits against the painstakingly rendered individual hairs of a tiger’s pel. Scintillating color permeates the canvas as well, energizing the otherwise static scene. Each element is given careful attention, and the overall effect is one of both immaculate technique and sensual tactility. Along with his contemporary and mentor, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Godward set the tone for the Victorian neoclassicist movement. He built his career upon creating images of idealized feminine beauty infused with a Greco-Roman-inspired style. Though greatly influenced by Alma-Tadema, Godward distinguished himself through his predilection for the solitary female figure. His fame rose dramatically in the first few years of the 20th century, when the present work was completed, due to the burgeoning strength of the British Empire and the Victorian society’s preoccupation with ancient Rome. To many of the newly affluent, Roman society was, as Iain Gale writes, “a flawless mirror of their own immaculate world.” The sensuality and mystery of Godward’s maidens, combined with his impressive antique backdrops...

Amazing painting of Cleopatra oil on canvas with a gilt wood frame. Attributed to Giuseppe Diamantini (Fossombrone 1621-Venice 1705) The dramatic subject of the painting depicts th...