James McGinley Paintings

In this captivating mid 18th century portrait, presented by Titan Fine Art, a young English lady is presented in a luminous white satin gown trimmed with intricate lace and blue ribb...

The gentleman in this exquisite oil on canvas portrait, presented by Titan Fine Art, is shown with the grandiloquence characteristic of the English School of painting. He is portray...

A Rare Jacobean Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Wheeler (née Cole), 1623 Attributed to Cornelius Johnson (1593–1661) This remarkably rare early oil on panel, presented by Titan Fine Art, has emerged as far more than an anonymous “Portrait of a Lady.” Preserved in outstanding condition—its surface retaining exceptional clarity in the lace and textiles—it has only recently been reunited with the identity of its sitter: Elizabeth Cole (1607–1670), later Lady Elizabeth Wheeler, a Westminster gentlewoman whose later life brought her into intimate royal service as laundress for His Majesty’s person. That combination—high quality, uncommon survival, a newly identified sitter, and a life that intersects directly with the last acts of Charles I—places this portrait in a category of genuine rarity. It is not simply a beautiful Jacobean likeness; it is a rediscovered historical document - legible and compelling. The sitter is presented half-length against a dark ground, enclosed within a painted sculpted oval surround that functions like an architectural frame. This device, fashionable in the 1620s, concentrates the viewer’s attention and heightens the sense of social presentation: the sitter appears both physically and symbolically “set apart,” as if viewed through a refined aperture. The portrait’s immediate power, however, lies in the costume—an ensemble of striking modernity for c. 1623 and rendered with a precision that survives with remarkable crispness. She wears a deep green gown—a fitted overgown with open sleeves—over a finely embroidered linen jacket (a stiffened bodice/waistcoat garment). The sleeves form pronounced “wings” at the shoulder, a structurally assertive fashion detail of the early 1620s that enlarges the silhouette and signals sophistication. Beneath the green overlayer, the white linen jacket is richly ornamented in gilt embroidery. The goldwork is arranged as scrolling foliate forms—looping, curling tendrils punctuated by seed-like stippling—organised into balanced compartments across the bodice and sleeves. The motifs read as stylised botanical forms with rounded fruit-like terminals and leaf elements: not literal naturalism, but controlled abundance. The technique is described with extraordinary intelligence, mimicking couched metallic thread through patterned, “stitched” marks, while tiny dots and short dashes create a lively tactile shimmer. This embroidered jacket sits above a newly fashionable high-waisted, sheer apron or overskirt. The translucent fabric falls in soft vertical folds and is articulated with narrow lace-edged bands, giving the skirt a crisp rhythm of alternating sheer and patterned strips. At the neck, a fine ruff frames the face: a disciplined structure of pleated linen finished with delicate lace. Draped diagonally across the torso are long gold chains, painted to suggest weight and metallic gleam; they function both as ornament and as a further signifier of status. The cumulative effect is controlled luxury: she is not overloaded with jewels, but clothed in textiles whose cost and craftsmanship speak unmistakably. The recent sitter’s identification rests on heraldic and genealogical analysis: the arms shown on the painting correspond to those recorded for several families in armorial sources, but when the lines of descent are tested against survival and chronology, the viable bearer by 1623 resolves to Cole, and—crucially—to the London branch. That resolution matters because it anchors the portrait to a very specific social world: London/Westminster civic gentry and Crown administration, the milieu in which portraiture served as both self-fashioning and social instrument. The recent identification of the sitter (the London Cole branch of the family) is not merely genealogical; it has direct implications for authorship. A London-based mercantile or civic-gentry family would have ready access to leading immigrant artists, familiarity with heraldic display conventions, and the means to commission oil on panel, still standard among Netherlandish-trained painters. In that context, the portrait’s age inscription and date become especially revealing. The painting states the sitter to be nineteen years of age. Yet Elizabeth Cole’s birth in 1607 suggests she would be younger if the portrait is dated as early as 1623. The key insight is that the “incorrect” age is best understood not as a mistake but as a deliberate social adjustment, a performative statement rather than a documentary one. The most persuasive explanation is strategic. Portraits of high-status unmarried women were frequently made in connection with marriage negotiations. In the early 1620s, Elizabeth’s future husband, William Wheeler, was resident abroad at Middelburg in Zeeland in the Dutch Republic. If a portrait was intended to support or facilitate a match with an educated, ambitious man—“a man of learning and letters,” —then presenting a seventeen-year-old as nineteen would subtly reposition her as more mature and more nearly a peer in age, Wheeler being around twenty-two. The portrait thus becomes an instrument of alliance, not merely a likeness: an image designed to persuade, reassure, and elevate. This reading aligns perfectly with the period’s wider conditions. The early 1620s in England were charged with anxiety and expectation: James I’s later reign was marked by court faction, diplomatic tension, and the pressures of European conflict. The so-called “art market” was inseparable from these dynamics. Portraiture flourished because it served multiple functions: it fixed lineage, advertised alliance, signalled readiness for marriage, and projected the stability of elite households in an uncertain world. For Westminster families whose power came through office, portraiture was also a declaration of belonging—proof that administrative elites possessed the cultural polish traditionally associated with older aristocratic rank. Elizabeth’s later life vindicates the portrait’s impression of steadiness. Although no record survives of her marriage ceremony to William Wheeler, wills suggest she had married him by the mid-1630s, and there are strong grounds—consistent with the portrait’s implications—for a union already in place by the early 1630s, possibly earlier. Wheeler himself rose rapidly. By 1639 he held a manor at Westbury Leigh in Wiltshire and sought letters of denization due to overseas birth, enabling him to stand as Member of Parliament for Westbury. He leased the principal manor of Westbury the following year, coinciding with his election. In government service he became Remembrancer of the Exchequer and held office across regime change, a testament to administrative skill and political pragmatism. It is Elizabeth, however, who makes this portrait exceptional. She became laundress for His Majesty’s person, responsible for the washing and oversight of the King’s personal linen—an office that, despite its domestic description, required unusual trust, discretion, and access. Her role becomes visible in 1643 when she was granted a warrant signed by the Speaker of the House of Commons to follow the King to Oxford with her servant after the outbreak of the Civil War. She continued to serve during the King’s captivity after 1646, and at Carisbrooke Castle in 1647 she and her maid were implicated in smuggling secret correspondence to and from Charles I, in service of escape plans. After the King’s failed attempt to escape in March 1648, she was removed—yet the King’s trust persisted: he was permitted to send her remaining jewels in an ivory casket...

LEVASSEUR Jean (1935-2024) (1935 - 2024) Beach scene Oil on canvas Dimensions of the painting: 24 x 33 cm Signed lower right. Provenance: Artist's studio. Painting in perfect c...

Portrait of a Gentleman in Blue Coat Standing by Curtain c.1695 Attributed to Constantyn Netscher (c.1668-c.1723), not signed The gentleman in this portrait has been depicted standi...

Portrait of an Elizabethan Gentleman in a Black Doublet c.1595 Manner of Hieronimo Custodis (died c.1593) Oil on copper Unsigned This exquisite oil on copper portrait, painted around 430 years ago, is a splendid survival from the Elizabethan era - the golden age in England’s history, when Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne. It is a time that is sandwiched between two golden ages of English renaissance culture, the reigns of Henry VIII and Charles I. This period produced a style of painting quite unlike that anywhere else in Europe and one that deserves serious assessment. Just a couple of years after our portrait was painted, English painting developed on another course, driven mainly by the artists Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger and Isaac Oliver; they depicted a new mood that was pervading Elizabethan and Jacobean society, which was that of romantic melancholy. Elizabethan painting...

"Rhythmical" by Alyson Kinkade Abstract Landscape, Undulating Clouds over Plains Oil on Canvas 40x36" image 41x37" framed in black shadow-box wood as pictured "There is great beauty...

Horse Candy no.3 by Alyson Kinkade 30x24" oil on linen (images of frame coming soon) Abstraction of the great plains and farms. ABOUT THE ARTIST: "Over the years my focus has trans...

Vast, Sunrise Colorado Plains by Alyson Kinkade Abstract Landscape Oil on Linen 36x36" image 37x37" framed, black metal cradle style (see photos) ABOUT T...

"Vast no.9, Restore" by Alyson Kinkade Abstract Landscape Oil on Linen 36x36" image Black Metal cradle styled Frame, 37x37" After a year of storms, light...

My Roses with Peaches by Teresa Vito 20x16" oil Floral Still Life Bouquet of Roses surrounded by a table full of peaches Signed lower right ABOUT THE ARTIST: Teresa Vito's paintings reflect the beauty she sees all around her. She loves painting living energy, whether it is the outdoor landscape, berries and flowers picked for a still life, or the unending variety of the human face. Vito has been a full time oil painter since 1992. She currently lives in Pueblo, Colorado. Vito has won numerous national and regional awards including an Award of Excellence, Best Portrait and Best Still Life Awards from Oil Painters of America. She also received the Best of Show award from the Artists of Colorado Exhibition held at the Colorado History Museum. Teresa Vito grew up in a one store town in upstate New York. She had never met an artist or had gone to an art gallery until she went to college. She chose to major in art because she loved to draw. College offered no clue as to how to become an artist so she decided to try to figure it out on her own. With $250 and a train ticket to Denver (she had never been west of Ohio) carrying a suitcase, a purse and a portfolio of nude drawings, Vito began her artistic journey. During her twenties she did every job she could find that was art related. Vito worked in a frame shop and gallery, at art supply stores, made posters and newspaper advertisements and created display windows in downtown Denver. The year the Art Students League in Denver opened, she maneuvered a job there running a small art supply store. It was here she found out about the world of Artist's Workshops. Vito learned as much as she could looking through the door of the many classes taught by master artists, who were in fact making a living with their art. With this inspiration Vito saved up enough money in 1992 to live cheaply for a year and become a full time artist. She has never looked back and strives to continue to be the best possible painter she can be. She now teaches workshops with gratitude and generosity, to share in all that she has learned. Vito has a BA in Fine Art from the State University of New York at Geneseo and has taught and studied at the Art Students League at Denver and the Loveland Academy of Fine Arts. She has expanded her knowledge by taking numerous workshops over the years with artists Quang Ho, Ramon Kelley...

Horse Candy no.2 by Alyson Kinkade 24x20" oil on linen Abstraction of the great plains and farms. ABOUT THE ARTIST: "Over the years my focus has transitioned more and more toward ...