London - Portrait Paintings

'Portrait of a Young Man' by Pandi, acrylic on stretched canvas. This piece was finished in early 2019 in Bali. It is a charming depiction of a...

English School 17th Century Portrait of a Melancholic Gentleman Oil on canvas Image size: 25 x 29 1/4 inches (63.5 x 72.25 cm) Hand made contemporary style frame Provenance South of England Estate This is a striking 17th century half-portrait of a man. He sits with his body turned to the left and his head to the right. His left hand is held in front of him with thumb and finger together. He wears a loose white shirt that is opened low down onto chest while being closed at his neck with a black ribbon. An orange cloak has also been draped across his arms in a rather dramatic manner. This choice of costume is immediately notable and must be compared to other portraits of this time of Elizabethan courtiers wearing slashed silk outfits with ostentatious finery and silver swords. Indeed, if one examines 17th century English...

Mother and daughter by Lélia Pissarro (b. 1963) Oil and gold leaf on canvas 100 x 100 cm (39 ³/₈ x 39 ³/₈ inches) Signed lower right Lélia Pissarro. Executed in 2020 This work is ...

Oil on canvas Image size: 17 x 21 inches (43 x 53 cm) 18th Century Carlotta frame Provenance Private Country Estate When depicting John the Baptist artists often added an outer ga...

Oil on canvas Canvas size: 12 x 10 inches Framed size: 18.25 x 16 inches Signed lower left

Gerald Leslie Brockhurst 1890 – 1978 Portrait of Marguerite Folin Oil on panel, signed lower right Image size: 18 x 14 inches (45.7 x 34.3 cm) Original frame The sitter for this po...

Oil on board, signed, titled and dated '1858' on verso Image size: 10 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches (26.5 x 47 cm) Gilt frame This is a wonderful portrait that was painted by John Burr at a t...

Oil on canvas Image size: 9 1/4 x 7 inches (23.5 x 18 cm) Original pierced gilt frame This wonderful Pre-Raphaelite self-portrait contributes to the artistic tradition of representi...

Sheila Holland 1932-2002 Self Portrait Oil on canvas, signed lower right Image size: 30 x 22 inches This is a wonderfully dynamic self portrait by the female artist Shelia Holland. ...

Oil on canvas Canvas size: 29 x 21 inches Framed size: 38.5 x 29.75 inches Signed lower left

'Balinese Pottery Market', oil on canvas, by Régine van den Broek d'Obrenan (1931). The artist visited Bali in 1931 (among other islands) with her new husband, Charles. The naive pai...

Thomas Cooper Gotch 1854 – 1931 Study of Violinist for Holy Motherhood Oil on canvas, on board Image size: 28 ¾ x 21 inches 18th century frame Illustrated in "The Golden Dream, A bi...

This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. "Butterfly’s Dance" is a mesmerizing portrayal of movement, pas...

Oil on canvas Canvas size: 22 x 36 inches Framed size: 30.75 x 44.75 inches Signed lower right

'Seated Woman', oil on board, by François Diana (circa 1970s). This work of sumptuous colour and sensuous subject matter elicits an immediate response. ...

Oil on panel Panel size: 14 x 11 inches Signed lower right

Joseph-Auguste Rousselin French 1841 - 1916 Head Study Oil on board, signed with initials and signed verso Image size: 12 x 11 inches This head study provides an unbelievably moving portrait of an androgynous sitter. Employing incredible technique, the artist has achieved the highly finished porcelain skin, thoughtful eyes and pink lips of the sitter with incredible softness. The unfinished quality of the background make the composition of the work particularly satisfying to the modern eye. Loosely sketched dashes and brushy swoops outline the model's head. The mix of finished and more expressive elements reveals the artist's brilliant eye, technique and personality. Artistically, Rousselin does not seem to be influenced by the friendships that he forged with the Impressionists but rather he has remained rather faithful to the academic technique of William Bouguereau, whose studio he also used to frequent. This study is certainly comparable to the work by Bouguereau, specifically his graceful portraits of women. Bouguereau championed the traditional academic style and his methods were taught to him by a pupil of Ingres. Similar academic inspiration is apparent in this work, from the conscious posing of the subject to the evenly laid colours. Indeed, alike the work of Bouguereau this follows the same classical approach to composition, form and subject matter. The Artist Born in Paris in 1841, Rousselin grew up to be a French painter and art collector. From a young age he studied in the workshops of Charles Gleyre and Thomas Couture, here he met the young impressionist generation. His studio peers included Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Édouard Manet, with whom he forged strong bonds of friendship. It was at his invitation that his two friends Renoir and Sisley exhibited at the Salon of the Society of Friends of the Arts in Pau, a region where Rousselin had family ties. Manet invited him to his family home in Boulogne-sur-Mer where he had him pose in the summer of 1868 for 'Le Déjeuner dans l'Atelie'. Rousselin can be seen in the background of the painting as the man with the cigar, wearing a grey hat...

Oil on canvas on board Image size: 15 3/4 x 21 3/4 inches (40 x 55 cm) Contemporary style frame This sensitive portrait captures the use of contemporary dress of this lady beautifu...

The work is unsigned. Provenance: Given directly by the artist to the present owner who was a friend of the model. Condition: Good condition apart from some scratches and pressure ...

Dominicus van der Smissen Early 18th Century Portrait of Conrad Friedrich Hurlebusch Oil on canvas Image size: 20½ x 16¼ inches Period gilt frame This is a portrait of Conrad Friedrich Hurlebusch, composer, Kapellmeister and organist, whom Van der Smissen most probably portrayed during his stay in Hamburg, Brunswick or Amsterdam. The identification is based on the reproduction of the portrait which was engraved by Pieter Anthony Wakkerdak (1740- 1774). Van der Smissen has reduced the face of the sitters to an egg-shaped oval in three-quarter view, applying diminution to one half of the figure’s torso, which is farther away from the viewer. This partial side view, with the head turned to look at the viewer over the shoulder, creates spatial depth and brings the figure to life by avoiding the stiffness of a frontal depiction. Because the artist chose to highlight the figure from above, a distinct shadow is cast under the tip of the nose, in the shape of a triangle. This is an often recurring and almost ‘signature’-like feature in Van der Smissen’s oeuvre. Hurlebusch's garments are of a very high quality and serve to reflect the sitter’s wealth, status and elegance. During this period, gentlemen often shaved their heads in order to facilitate the wearing of a wig, which wouldbe worn with a suit. Here Hurlebusch has been depicted in a luxurious turban-like cap lined with lynx fur, a highly fashionable and expensive material at the time. Over his shirt, he wears a velvet fur-lined gown adorned with decorative clasps fashioned from silver braid. The elegant informality of his appearance can be seen in his unbuttoned shirt and the unfastened black ribbon hanging from his button hole, which has been artfully arranged into a fluttering drape by the portraitist. The Sitter Hurlebusch was born in Brunswick, Germany. He received the first instructions in his field from his father Heinrich Lorenz Hurlebusch, who was also a musician. As an organ virtuoso, he toured Europe, visiting Vienna, Munich and Italy. From 1723 to 1725 he was Kapellmeister in Stockholm; later he became Kapellmeister in Bayreuth and Brunswick, and lived in Hamburg from 1727 to 1742, where he had contact with fellow composers Johann Mattheson and Georg Philipp Telemann. He made his living composing, performing and teaching. In 1735 and 1736, he is believed to have visited Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig, who promoted Hurlebusch’s compositions as the local seller...

This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. In "Colbert, Afternoon," Michael Alford captures the lively am...

This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. "Golden Slumber" by Kelly-Anne Cairns is an enchanting portraya...

Oil on board, signed and dated '44 lower right Image size: 15 x 19 inches (38 x 48.25 cm) Contemporary style hand made frame This portrait of an unknown man certainly captures the personality of the chosen sitter. With hat tilted to the side, eyebrow lifted and a half smile of the man's face, one gets the impression that he is finding the whole process of having his portrait painted rather amusing. Still in Ireland at this time, the sitter is likely to have been a friend of the artist, from Belfast. In 1944 there was a group exhibition in Belfast held at the textile business of William Ewart & Sons on Bedford Street. Here Smith showed his works alongside the artists Colin Middleton...

A beautiful french salon double portrait. We adore the wallpaper in the background and the whole in its frame superchic.

This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. “Aldwych, Towards St Clement’s Danes” is a masterclass in atmo...

After Sir John Hoppner 1758 - 1810 Self Portrait Oil on canvas Image size: 18 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches (47 x 55 cm) Original gilt Carlotta frame This wonderful painting is after John Ho...

This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. "Waterloo Bridge" by Michael Alford is a mesmerizing original ...

'Portrait of Boy in a Chair', gouache on art paper, by Raymond Debiève (circa 1960s). Here the artist paints a young boy, very probably his son, Vincent, sitting in a chair posing fo...

'Nude at the Window Overlooking Sacré-Coeur', oil on paper mounted on canvas, by Louis Latapie (circa 1930s). Although later in Latapie's career he embraced cubism and abstraction, t...

Oil on oak panel Image size: 9 x 7 1/4 inches (23 x 18.5 cm) Period style hand made frame This is a self-portrait is most likely by a 17th century English...

Lionel Ellis 1903 - 1988 Portrait of a Woman in Blue Oil on canvas Image size: 16 x 13 3/4 (40.5 x 35 cm) Lionel Ellis ARCA (1903-1988) was an important ...

'La Montera', gouache, watercolour and ink on art paper, by Pierre Ambrogiani (circa 1960s). The artist created many artworks with bullfighting as theme. In this case, a single torer...

Slade School Late 19th Century Portrait of a Mary Hardy (nee Sulman) Oil on panel Image size: 8 x 7 inches Contemporary frame Provenance Lady Town (Grandda...

This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. This original cubist artwork by Borja Guijarro presents an att...

JOSEPH FLOCH 1894-1977 Vienna 1894 – 1977 New York (Austrian) Title: Collette II, 1944 Technique: Signed Oil Painting on Canvas Size: 120 x 89 cm. / 47.2 x 35 in. Additional Inf...

The painting is hand signed by the artist at the lower left part "I. Ryback". It was probably painted between 1925 to 1935 in France. Provenance: Josef Steiglitz Gallery, Tel Aviv. ...

'The Banana Plantation Guadeloupe II', oil on canvas, by Robert Humblot (1959). The second in a series of artworks completed in 1959 when the artist vis...

'The Kids', pastel on paper (1967), by Raymond Dèbieve. Picasso's influence is undeniable in this artwork yet Dèbieve's own naive artistic style is on display ...

This finely rendered pencil drawing by British artist Frank Jameson depicts a contemplative female sitter in three-quarter view. Executed with delicate, confident linework and subtle...

Richard Waller 1811 - 1882 Una Oil on canvas, signed lower right and dated 1879 Image size: 23 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches (59.5 x 49.5 cm) Original frame Una is one of the main characters in the first book of Edmund Spenser...

Dimensions variable: small ovals 5.5cm x 6.5cm; medium ovals 7.5cm x 9.5cm; large ovals 9cm x 11cm Derrick Guild is a Scottish artist whose paintings fragment Old Master works to ex...

This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. This captivating piece by Shaun Othen presents a figure of a n...

Youthful Thoughts Armand Point Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1889 lower left Image size: 18 1/4 x 25 3/4 inches (46.4 x 65.4 cm) Framed Provenance Private collection, France The p...

Thomas Cantrell Dugdale RA RP ROI Paratrooper Oil on canvas 44 x 46 cm Signed to bottom right (painted faintly) Thomas Cantrell Dugdale (1880–1952) was a British painter and illust...

Flemish School, Early 17th Century Portrait of a Boy in a Black Tunic Oil on panel Image size: 15¾ x 13⅛ inches This accomplished portrait of an unknown boy in his early teens was p...

'Portrait of Renée', oil on board, by Louis Latapie (1941). When combined with the artist's passionate brush strokes, the wood panel upon which this piece is painted, creates both a ...

Oliver Messel 1904 - 1978 Portrait of a Young Man Oil on canvas, signed and dated 'Oliver Messel 1930' (on the stretcher) Image size: 30 x 25 inches (76.2 x 63.4 cm) Original frame Oliver Messel was born to Leonard and Maud Messel, née Sambourne, on the 13 January 1904 and was the youngest of three children. The family moved to Nymans, the Messel family home in Sussex, from nearby Balcombe in 1915. The house remained in the family until 1953 when it was bequeathed to the National Trust, following a fire in 1947 which destroyed a large portion of the house. The Messels originated from a line of German Jewish bankers on Leonard’s side, however, both family lines boast a number of artistic influences, including Maud’s father. Maud was brought up at 18 Stafford Terrace, Kensington (now known as the Linley Sambourne House Museum), amongst collections of antique porcelain and eighteenth-century furniture, and with a host of artistic visitors such as Henry Irving and Oscar Wilde. Oliver’s own upbringing appears to be influenced by his mother's, as the Messel family were also affiliated with artists and writers and were keen collectors of art, filling their home with textiles, paintings and collections of European and Asian fans from travels abroad. It was amongst such treasures that Oliver, Anne and Linley spent their childhood, in addition to the beauty of Nyman’s extensive gardens. Oliver was schooled at Eton but rather than going up to university was encouraged by family friends, gallery owner Archie Propert and painter and sculptor Glyn Philpot, to attend art school. In 1922 he enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, where he studied under Henry Tonks. Here, he met the artist Rex Whistler with whom he remained firm friends until Whistler’s death in WW2. Upon leaving the Slade in 1924 Oliver was apprenticed to the studio of portrait artist John Wells, where he learnt various Old Master painting techniques, and met artists such as Jacob Epstein, Augustus John and William Orpen. Whilst at the Slade Oliver developed his interest in Papier Mâché masks, a pastime popular amongst many art students at the time. Whilst apprenticed to artist John Wells several of Oliver’s masks were exhibited at the Claridge Gallery, London, alongside pieces by Whistler and other young artists. These were seen by Serge Diaghilev, director of the Ballet Russes, and Charles B. Cochran, a theatrical producer, both of whom made Oliver offers of work. His first job in the theatre was creating masks for the Ballets Russes’ Zéphyr et Flore, 1925, designed by the French artist Georges Braque, followed by numerous musical revues for Cochran, including Wake Up and Dream!, 1929, with music by Cole Porter. It was during these revues, working with Porter and Noel Coward, that Oliver also began to design headdresses and costumes. In 1932 he was rewarded with his first full commission to design both costume and sets for Helen!, directed by Max Reinhardt. The production design is still celebrated today for its innovative approach and ground-breaking ‘white on white’ aesthetic, which referenced ‘Greek temples, Rococo drapes, Baroque colonnades and Louis XIV carousels’. The success of Helen! led to further offers within the theatre including Reinhardt’s version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Old Vic in 1937, starring Vivien Leigh as Titania and Robert Helpmann as Oberon, the Jean Cocteau play The Infernal Machine in 1940, and Christopher Fry’s translation of Jean Anouilh’s Ring Round the Moon, 1950. One of Oliver’s best-known productions during this period was the Russian ballet The Sleeping Beauty, performed by Sadler’s Wells Ballet in 1946 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Encompassing over 200 costumes and four set changes, Oliver’s romantic designs were celebrated for bringing colour back to post-war London, and variations on his designs are still used today. Additional designs for the ballet included Comus in 1940, for which he was released from war duties, and Homage to the Queen, choreographed by Frederick Ashton and performed in 1953 for the Queen’s coronation. His first opera was in 1940 for Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Royal Opera House, followed by a series of productions at the newly founded Glyndebourne Opera House in Sussex, for which Oliver also designed the proscenium arch. He triumphed in 1956 designing a season of four different productions for their Mozart bicentennial, also providing illustrations for the programme covers. His popularity also spread beyond theatre to film, were he worked on over eight different feature films including Romeo and Juliet, 1936, directed by George Cukor. During a three-month research trip to Italy Oliver collected over 3,000 reference images including postcards of artwork by Piero della Francesca, Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, along with prints and photographs of textiles and architectural features. A production of Gabriel Pascal’s Caesar and Cleopatra, 1946, starring Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains, was celebrated for Oliver’s ability to recreate the opulence and luxury of ancient Egypt under the constraints of wartime rationing. Such was his skill that Vivien Leigh in a letter to Oliver declared that “I have of course told Pascal that nobody in the world must do the costumes except you.” He was later nominated for an Academy Award for his work on his final film Suddenly, Last Summer, 1959; an adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ American Southern Gothic mystery. Having started his artistic career as a portrait apprentice, capturing the faces of family and friends, Oliver continued to develop this practice until the end of his life.  His style is said to have been influenced by Glyn Philpot, the Messel’s family friend who encouraged Oliver from an early age in his pursuit of art and design. His most prolific period came in the 1950s during which he produced over 50 portraits, which were shown in exhibitions in New York, London and Barbados. The exhibitions included both well-known faces and anonymous sitters captured on Oliver’s travels, and a number of these works have entered private collections. He continued to paint after moving to the Caribbean in 1966, capturing society figures and the rich and famous including fashion designer Carolina Herrera and Bianca Jagger. His style remained unchanged throughout his career, using the same soft painterly strokes and subtle palette as in his theatre designs. By far his greatest contribution in addition to theatre and film was Oliver’s interior and architectural designs. Another, much celebrated commission included Rayne shoe shop in Old Bond Street, where he created jewel-like interiors using the same practice of scaled models as his set designs. Other notable interior designs include those for Norwich and Bath Assembly Rooms, Flaxley Abbey in Gloucestershire, Rosehill Theatre in Cumbria and the Reader’s Digest offices in Paris. However, upon moving to Barbados in 1966, Oliver embraced a new career envisioning architectural concepts for private houses, hotels and public buildings, utilising his experience with interior design to furnish them with bespoke items of furniture and textiles. His first project was Maddox, the deserted eighteenth-century plantation house bought by himself and his partner Vagn Riis-Hansen in 1964. The existing building and gardens were remodelled to Oliver’s designs embracing an inherent theatricality with views out to sea. These were framed by terraces and verandas which extended out from the living rooms creating what is often referred to as a Caribbean style of ‘indoor-outdoor’ living. For the woodwork he used a shade of green that is now known as ‘Messel green’ and often associated with the island of Barbados. Oliver was born into a wealthy family; he travelled extensively and was exposed to art and culture from a young age. A privileged youth, his name is often mentioned amongst the ‘Bright Young Things’, for whom costume parties at country houses and jaunts to Europe on a whim became a thing of fable. This informal group included people such as Cecil Beaton (a life-long friend whom Oliver first met at Eton), Lord Berners, Noel Coward, John Betjeman, Harold Acton, Nancy Mitford, Edith Sitwell, Stephen Tennant...

This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. Contemporary figurative painter Andrew S. Conklin creates a co...

'Woman with Yellow Blouse', oil on cardstock paper (1979), by Raymond Debiève. Here the artist paints a woman posing in front of her home under a blue sk...

Ghizlan El Glaoui Coronation Stamp, 2024 Oil on canvas, framed Signed by the artist, on verso Framed: 94 x 62 cm Ghizlan El Glaoui is a Moroccan-born artist based in London, known f...

Contemporary Moroccan figurative painting by Khalid Nadif. Mixed media and paint on canvas, offered framed. Signed on back by the artist. Portrait, female figure, figurative art,...

Contemporary figurative painting by Khalid Nadif Mixed media on canvas, offered in a light wood frame. Signed on back by the artist. Portrait, female figure, figurative art, figura...

Oil on canvas Image size: 17 x 23 1/2 inches (43 x 60 cm) Contemporary William Kent hand made frame

Philip Campbell Curtis American 1907 - 2000 Reflections Oil on board, signed and dated 1960 Image size: 12 ½ x 5 ½ inches Original frame

In this collection, British painter Michael Pemberton (b. 1974) suggests we each have a personal HUMAN ATMOSPHERE. An ether where we truly exist, unseen by the naked eye but as real ...

Svetlana Kalachnik’s unmistakable work expresses a mastery of the craft of painting, her art depicts situations of complicity between her characters; she takes the viewer into a worl...

*PLEASE NOTE UK BUYERS WILL ONLY PAY 5% VAT ON THIS PURCHASE. Once an order is placed we will arrange the VAT of 20% to be reduced to 5% Aude by Jean-Pierre Cassigneul (b. 1935) Oil...

This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. "Cannon Street" by Michael Alford is a captivating original im...

Themba Sibeko, a self-taught artist, blends the worlds of science and art to create a unique and thought-provoking body of work. With a background in analytical chemistry, Themba has...

'Portrait of President Joko Widodo' by Pandi, acrylic on stretched canvas, unframed. This piece was finished in early 2018 in Bali. It is a charming depiction of the very popular Pre...