Located in Nr Broadway, Worcestershire
Alfred Provis
British, (1818-1890)
By the Fireside
Oil on canvas, signed & dated 1869
Image size: 10.5 inches x 15.5 inches
Size including frame: 21.5 inches x 26.5 inches
This charming cottage scene by Alfred Provis features a woman preparing supper by a fire with her young daughter. As the mother peels the turnips and places them in the pot, the girl’s attention is drawn to the kitten feeding from a saucer. The dress and hat of the woman bears a similarity to those found Provis’s other scenes of Welsh cottage interiors. The artist was known to have visited North Wales around the time this painting was produced. In 1869, he exhibited a work entitled ‘Interior of a Welsh Farmhouse’ at the Royal Society of British Artists. Given the level of detail in the painting and the fact that it is in such an impressive original frame, it is possible this is the same painting as the one exhibited.
Alfred Provis was a genre painter born on 18 February, 1818 in Chippenham, Wiltshire. He was the son of John Provis, a timber merchant and his second wife Ann Banks. He spent time in London being tutored by the historical and portrait artist John Wood (1801-1870) before returning to Chippenham. He began exhibiting at the Royal Society of British Artists in 1843, continuing to exhibit there regularly until 1886. He made his debut at the Royal Academy in 1846 with a work entitled ‘A Cottage Door...
Category
19th Century Richard Geiger Art