Michael Tain, an Autumnal Scene

A late 18th century Chinese export watercolour, depicting a man and a woman in a garden, a watermelon set upon the window sill.  

Jan van der Vaart (1647-1727) Portrait of Dorothy, Lady Brownlow (1664-1700) Oil on canvas; held in a period carved wood frame circa 1687 Considered a beauty of the age, Dorothy, Lady Brownlow was painted on a number of occasions by some of the most talented and respected artists of the day; Kneller, Riley, Closterman, Dahl and Wissing, all rendered her features in oil for posterity. The portrait presented here is by Jan van der Vaart who from 1685-1687 was employed by Willem Wissing as a drapery and landscape painter. After Wissing’s death in 1687 he practiced as an independent portraitist much in the style of his master with some influence also of Kneller. This work is in fact the head and shoulders taken from Wissing’s three-quarter length of Lady Brownlow which hangs at Belton House, Lincolnshire and produced as a mezzotint in 1687. Van der Vaart has made some intriguing alterations particularly as the sitter now looks directly at us, appearing rather more provocative and self assured of her beauty. The confident rendering of the dress and pearls and the thickly drawn copious hair are hallmarks of Van der Vaart’s work. It is likely he completed this portrait – shortly after Wissing’s version – as a smaller variant intended for another family member as was often the practice. Dorothy Mason married Sir William Brownlow 4th Bt. in July 1688; she was the daughter and heir of Sir Richard Mason a politician and courtier to Charles II who owned estates at Bishop’s Castle, Salop and Sutton Surrey. She came from, and married into extreme wealth; her dowry upon marriage was £10,000 and on her death her husband inherited the estates that were once her father’s. In June 1697 William Brownlow succeeded his brother to the baronetcy and to most of his landed estates including Belton House. In 1698 he abandoned his Peterborough seat to contest Bishop’s Castle on behalf of his wife and in the interest of his mother-in-law, Lady Anna Mason...

A late 19th century botanical study depicting a red lily. Watercolor on paper held within a reeded giltwood frame.

A late 19th century watercolor and pencil study of a golden clematis, Clematis Tangutica. Watercolor and pencil on paper set within a reeded giltwood frame.

A 15/100 scale beautiful watercolor of a steam locomotive listing the technical names for the component parts and inscribed 'Pensionnat St Gabriel - Chatell...

A late 19th century botanical watercolor depicting a spring blossom.

Signed Winter Church Scene by F. Michaels. Nice New England winter scene composition. Framed in a solid wooden frame. Signed lower right.

Vintage (20th Century) painting of a figure sitting alongside a path cutting through vividly colored autumnal woods and ending at a body of water and mountains, on rectangular canvas...

In interesting combination of a Modern Bauhaus style gouache, combined with an impressive Impressionism frame. The gouache painting is made by an artist from Berlin and shows a timel...

framed late 18th century English hunt scene, oil on canvas, two men take a rest while hunting large hares / rabbits with a pack of hounds (lower left) while another pair of hunters ...

A Dusky Town Square Landscape Painting, Early 20th century by Winifred Beatrice Roome 1873-1957 Depicting figures walking with a dog in the distance in a quiet town square in t...

A 19c naive oil painting on a thin wooden panel of a young girl in an architectural and wooded landscape in a black painted frame with gilt slip. A regency period portrait...