Liz Wall Art

A delightful rustic scene dating to circa 1800 with the sailor returning to his thankful wife and the domestic idyll of his country cottage. The harbour with sailing ships ferrying c...

France circa 1850 The Bohème artist in his workshop Watercolor on paper 15.5 x 21.5 cm In good condition except a small tear (visible on the photographs) on the upper right border. I...

In this poetic lakeside scene, Hilding Werner transports the viewer to a tranquil Scandinavian summer night at the turn of the century. Four couples dance gaily upon a wooden raft or...

French School 19th Century, Portrait of a dandy, watercolor on paper 19 x 13 cm Signed (?) with pencil lower right "L ... " illegible Framed : 29 x 23 cm

We are delighted to present a stunning watercolor by the Swedish artist Albert Theodor Gellerstedt. This artwork, titled "Sickelsjö Trädgård" was created on June 8, 1883. The paintin...

This late 19th-century watercolour by Scottish artist George H Hay RSA (1831-1912) depicts four young ladies, wearing outfits synonymous with the 1820s, spinning wool within a simple...

Auguste Mayer (1803-1890 A seascape with a boat signed with the initials on the lower left Pencil and heightenings of white gouache on paper 17.5 x 26 cm...

Louis Gallait (1810-1887) Portrait of a Gentleman, Watercolor and gouache on paper, square white lines, 24 x 16 cm Stamp of the Louis Gallait Estate on the mount on the lower righ...

William LEE-HANKEY (1869-1952, British) At the Fish Market 1904 pencil, watercolor, bodycolor w/gum arabic 20 x 20 inches, inc. frame Provenance: The Swan Gallery...

Gustaf Wilhelm Palm (1810–1890) Sweden Ruins of the Imperial Castle Outside Split in Croatia pencil and watercolour unframed: 23.6 x 29.2 cm (9 1/4 x 11 1/2 in) framed: 40 x 45 cm...

Playboy School, 20th Century Artists and their muses: Titian and Violante; Sir Peter Lely and Nell Gwyn; Francois Boucher and Louise O’Murphy; Hogarth, Nell...

Richard Westall, R.A. (1765-1836) Venus signed and dated ‘R. Westall 1794’ (lower right) pencil and watercolour, with white heightening image 11 ⅞ x 15 ¼ in. (30.2 x 38.7 cm.) frame 22 ⅛ x 26 in. (56.3 x 66.1 cm.) Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Venus (1794) was produced during a highly creative and defining period of Richard Westall’s career and artistic development, when from 1790-95 the ambitious young artist was sharing a house at 57 Greek Street, Soho, with his friend Sir Thomas Lawrence, the future President of the Royal Academy. Whilst lodging together, Lawrence became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1791, Westall the following year, and both were elected full-members in 1794 – the year Lawrence was appointed Painter-in-Ordinary to His Majesty King George III. Westall was to become Queen Victoria’s first Drawing Master, before her ascension to the throne. It was in this very year, 1794 - as the two young artists became Royal Academicians - that the present watercolour was executed, and it is exciting to speculate that Lawrence would have examined and given his thoughts on the work. Highly comparable to The Wallace Collection’s Nymph and cupids (c.1793, cat. P757), acquired by Francis Seymour-Conway (1777-1842), 3rd Marquess of Hertford, (who hung it in his bedroom), the mid-1790s saw Westall exhibiting and returning to similar subject-matter on a number of occasions. Two works with titles that could be applied to the present picture were exhibited at the Royal Academy, in 1794 (no. 341 Nymph and Cupids) and 1795 (no. 620, A Wood–nymph and Cupids). However, a print after the watercolour, engraved by F. Screen, entitles the piece Venus. Westall is regarded as a great virtuoso watercolourist, and Venus is evidence of the young artist’s mastery of the medium. Indeed, it is unusual to find a watercolour of comparable age so well preserved, and retaining such vibrancy - the superb condition providing an insight into his exceptional brushwork and use of colour. Venus languishes luxuriously on her woodland bed, the trunk of a tree resembling a curtain, while three winged putti play beside her, seeming to gesture to someone in the woods. Cupid draws back his bow and aims an arrow of love, perhaps about to pierce the heart of a hunting nobleman, or unsuspecting woodcutter. The striking contrast between the almost luminescent nymph, with the deep, rich, luxuriant forest, gives the glade an alluring sense of mystery – perhaps an allusion to the mysteries of the heart, a pre-occupation with Romanticism, central to the emerging thought of the time. Westall can be classified as one of the great Romantic artists, and even painted Lord Byron’s portrait...