United Kingdom - Portrait Paintings

This interesting painting is a British Old Master late 18th century or early 19th century oil painting attributed to Thomas Barker of Bath. It is stylistically very similar to his ot...

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

A Rocky Cornish Coast, early 20th Century by Kathleen Walker (1893-1966) early 20th Century study of a rocky Cornish coast by Kathleen Walker, oil on ...

This captivating oil painting by Luís Muntané Muns exemplifies the artist’s mastery in figurative art, portraiture, and classical elegance. Renowned for his evocative depictions of finely dressed women, Muns presents a young woman in an opulent, multi-layered gown, her delicate posture exuding both grace and introspection. The artist’s soft yet expressive brushwork enhances the flowing fabric, creating a striking contrast against the dark, atmospheric background. Muns, born in 1899 in Mataró, Spain, studied under José Mongrell...

A vibrant and characterful impressionist scene in oil, showing two pretty young girls in party dresses, one holding a fan, whispering to each other a...

Newlyn School, circle of Frank Bramley is the attribution for this lovely Victorian portrait oil painting. Painted circa 1890 on panel, it is a head and shoulders portrait of a young girl in a straw hat...

Dame Ethel Walker DBE ARA (1861-1951) Young Man in a Red Tie Oil on canvas 51 x 40.6 cm.; (within frame) 70 x 59.7 cm. Provenance: The Lefevre Gallery, London, stock number X890; Christie’s, London, Modern British Pictures, Watercolours, Drawings and Sculpture, 12 September 1996, lot 58; Bonhams, London, Modern British and Irish Art, 23 November 2022, lot 177; Private Collection, United Kingdom. This focussed composition is dominated by a handsome young man in profile, frowning with a concentrated glare. His slender cheeks meet a jaw brushed with a masculine grey, complimented by the blue of a flower or pocket square, and the shadow of a loose strand of oiled hair that rests across his forehead. The stylistic sophistication shows Walker at her best, ambitiously combining measured figuration with expressive abstraction, as delicious dashes of pigment appear still wet, and dissonant swipes energetically mark the surface of the canvas. With an elegance that borders on the effete, the sitter’s urbane style includes a spearpoint collar, framed by the wide lapels of his suit jacket. Most significantly, the young man’s dandyish fashion is augmented by the conspicuous titular red tie which he wears – an established expression of queerness in the 20th century. Painted by the lesbian artist Dame Ethel Walker, it is likely that the portrait is that of a gay man belonging to London’s queer artistic circles. Indeed, Walker’s male sitters (who constitute but a fraction of her output) are typically conceived as modish, and often wear striking colourful ties. Walker was one of the earliest lesbian artists to overtly explore her sexuality in her works, and an aesthetic fascination with the female form culminated with her glorious large-scale ‘decorations’, exemplified by Decoration: The Excursion of Nausicaa (Tate, N03885). Red neckties had been established in the 20th century as a coded (though appropriately colourful) expression of queerness, not dissimilar to the green carnation of the Wildean aesthetes. The gay writer and musician Mikhail Kuzmin was painted in 1909 in a stark red tie. Two decades later, the Anglo-French physician Havelock Ellis described the red necktie as an emblem amongst queer New Yorkers: ‘[…] there has been a fashion for a red tie to be adopted by inverts [homosexuals] as their badge’ (Ellis, p. 299). The motif permeated fiction, and in Thomas Mann’s 1912 novel Death In Venice, the protagonist Gustav von Aschenbach begins to wear a red necktie after he develops an infatuation with a beautiful young boy staying at his hotel. William Faulkner’s 1929 novel The Sound and the Fury includes an unnamed male character identified throughout by his distinctive red necktie, which is the subject of veiled insinuations against his masculinity. Walker must surely have been familiar with this symbolic importance when she executed the present portrait. Her few portraits of male sitters include colourful neckties almost exclusively, and include numerous examples of red neckties. Indeed, the artist herself preferred to wear a red tie, a declaration which so impressed itself on Virginia Woolf that she noted it in a diary entry after tea with Walker (Bell, p. 282). Walker, who painted Woolf’s sister Vanessa Bell, had once offered to paint Woolf in the nude, as Lilith. Around the same time, Augustus John painted the gay peer Evan Morgan, 2nd Viscount Tredegar, in a loose red necktie or neck scarf. The portrait passed through the Lefevre Gallery, which also represented Walker, and which inventoried the present work. While the sartorial choice may have been incidental, a colourful accessory chosen to enliven the portrait, its prominent inclusion would suggest a personal significance to Walker, the recognition of a shared experience between artist and subject. Dame Ethel Walker was hailed as a leading female artist of her generation, and as late as 2010 was one of only four women artists to have been honoured as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Walker was born in Edinburgh in 1861 to the botanist Arthur Abney Walker, a descendent of the Walker family of iron industrialists, whose estates included Clifton House (Rotherham) and Blythe Hall (Nottinghamshire). She attended school in London after the family moved to Wimbledon, and in 1880 met the fellow artist Clara Christian, with whom she would form an important personal and professional bond. The women’s relationship was later allegorised by the writer George Moore as that of Stella (Christian) and Florence (Walker) in his fictionalised three-volume memoir Hail and Farewell. Walker went on to Putney School of Art and Westminster School of Art, and studied under Frederick Brown, who became a lifelong mentor. Around 1893 Walker took further study at the Slade School of Art, partly under Walter Sickert, and returned in 1912, 1916, and 1921. Although Walker enjoyed painting floral still lifes and seascapes, her best work was portraiture. She worked from her studio at 38 Cheyne Walk for most of her career, and enjoyed a prominent role in London’s artistic milieu. Her sitters included the artists Lucien Pissarro, Orovida Camille Pissarro, Vanessa Bell, and Barbara Hepworth; she painted Nancy Astor, the Countess of Strathcona, the editor Joan Werner Laurie, and author Leo Walmsley. The actors Flora Robson and Elsa Lanchester sat for Walker, as did the young Christopher Robin Milne. Walker herself was photographed by the bisexual photographer and painter Humphrey Spender...

This stunning British American Impressionist portrait oil on canvas painting is by Sir James Jebusa Shannon circa 1905. The painting is of the artist and his wife Florence and daught...

Portrait of a lady by Dutch Golden Age painter Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693). Half-length, within a feigned oval, the lady wears a pearl necklace and earrings, an ivory silk gown adorned...

This is a painting from Karen Lynn’s ‘Crowd’ series of works. In this particular painting she gave the audience a 60’s retro look and chose very bright colours like reds pinks and o...

Saint Nazarius & Celsus (350AD), 18th Century Diptych Of The Christian Knights & Martyrs after lost work by Bartolomeo Montagna (1450-1523) Large 18th Century Italian Old Master de...

Margaret Hunter (b.1948)- original work in oil. Well-presented in a contemporary whitewashed frame. Labelled by the 'Vanessa Devereux Gallery Limited, ...

A handsome study of a young Venetian boy sat by the water's edge. Unsigned. On canvas.

Cavalier & Lady Diuing A Recital, 17th Century Dutch School Large 17th Century Dutch Old Master interior scene of a lady and cavalier during a recital. oil on canvas. Excellent qua...

Well presented in a contemporary wood frame. Signed. On board.

Original painting by Agnese Negriba. Female figure is depicted in a reclining position and is enjoying a moment of contemplation and relaxation in a fragrant and blooming space. The ...

Émile Eisman-Semenowsky French/Polish, (1857-1911) Eastern Beauty Oil on panel, oval, signed & inscribed Paris Image size: 10.25 inches x 8.25 inches (oval) Size including frame: 18...

Attributed to Walter Shirlaw 1838-1909, was a Scottish born American painter who lived in America from the age of two years old. Shirlaw studied in Munich where he befriended America...

A new portrait from Kerry Louise Bennett's Petite Portraits series which gently reflects those amusing and bittersweet moments (with which we are all familiar with), and celebrates a...

Oil Painting After Sir Peter Lely (1610-1680) Portrait of a Lady Housed in a Lely gold Leaf Frame. Peter Lely: In 1647 he became a member of the Pain...

This lovely Edwardian oil painting is by French artist William Albert Ablett. Dated 1901, the brush work and use of light are superb. Ablett has perfectly captured the movement and f...

Native American woman sits around a small hut as spirits fog a deep blue sky during a purification ceremony, also known as a sweat. The sweat is intended as a religious ceremony, with its purpose being for prayer and healing. Every aspect of a sweat lodge...

Pair of French character portraits. French school, mid 20th century. Gouache on unframed paper. Both stamped and named on the backs, with the artists initials written on the right ha...

Portrait of a lady in a white dress, 19th century Beautiful portrait from an English school circa 1840 Beautiful large portrait from an English school from the 19th century of a la...

A multicoloured oil portrait by Clifford Hanley, depicting a casual male motorist caught in heavy traffic. Signed and dated to the lower right-hand edge. With a second artwork by the...

Oil on canvas Image size: 10 x 7 1/2 inches (25.5 x 19 cm) Contemporary gilt frame This painting is a copy of Thomas Lawrence’s 1822 portrait of Armand Emmanuel du Plessis, Duke of ...

Circle of Cornelius Johnson (1593-1661), a 17th century portrait of a lady, bust-length oval, wearing an ivory silk gown with blue silk bows and lace c...

Portrait of John Ludford (1653-1681), wearing a lace jabot and brown and gold trimmed cloak in a feigned stone oval cartouche. Inscribed 'John Ludford, Esq, nat. 14th March 1653, Ob,...

Charles Sillem Lidderdale British, (1831-1895) The Scholar Oil on canvas, signed with monogram & dated (18)94 Image size: 26.5 inches x 19.5 inches Size including frame: 33.5 inche...

Portrait of a very attractive Lady, head-and-shoulders in length monogrammed FD, inscribed to verso, oil on canvas, 50cm x 40cm whilst overall is 59 x 69 cm . In overall good condition some craquelure. Has been relined and cleaned. original frame some minor losses (self coloured) Frank...

Urban Manga Graffiti Art entitled 'Wonderland Police Department' by British Street Artist Chris Pegg. Chris Pegg is a self-taught artist from Lancas...

Portrait painted over the flowers still live.

In a warm room a man leans against a bar whilst gazing over his shoulder with curiosity and smoking on his impressive-looking pipe. He has a calm expression on his face, which is env...

Portrait Of A Pair Pair Of Pekingese Dogs "Jip & Randolf", circa 1900 English School 19th Century English School portrait of a pair of Pekingese Dogs "Jip & Randolf", oil on canvas. Excellent quality and condition study of the dogs painted by an accomplished animal painter at the turn of the century. Presented in a good gilt frame. inscribed verso. Provenance: Victoria Art Gallery, St Helier...

This charming oil painting is by British female artist Agnes L Reid. Painted circa 1920 the painting is of a little boy playing on the floor with his train set, with balloons and a b...

Portrait Colonel Edward Astley 1st Royal Life Guards, 19th Century by Frederique Emile O'Connell (1823-1885) Large 19th Century Portrait of Colonel Edward Astley, 1st Royal Life Gua...

A finely executed charcoal portrait on paper depicting Steuart Adolphus Pears, thought to have been painted in “Harrow 1849”. Pears, noted for his tenure as headmaster of Repton Sc...

A 17th century English portrait of a lady by Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), half-length in a painted feigned oval, wearing a green silk gown with chestnut coloured cloak over one shoulder, her fair hair curled in the fashionable ringlet style of the period. Oil on canvas in an English giltwood 'Lely' frame. We are grateful to Diana Dethloff and Catharine MacLeod (who are currently working on a Lely catalogue raisonné) for their confirmation of Lely as the artist from photograph analysis of this previously unidentified early work. Provenance: Private collection Nottingham until 2021 Mellors and Kirk sale December 2000, lot 1173 The sitter is likely to have been from an upper class or aristocratic family in court circles, who were the main source of Lely`s patronage. The simple composition serves to highlight the beauty of the sitter through portraying her pale decolletage and complexion, set against the gentle gaze of her blue eyes, the soft blush of her cheeks and her full red lips. Peter Lely (1618-1680) was originally of dutch origin and became Principle Painter to the King in 1661, following in the footsteps of Van Dyck who had died in 1641. He dominated the portrait painting scene in England for over 20 years, creating a distinctive 'court look' in his work which had a strong influence on many other artists. He had an extremely successful and popular portrait practice which meant that he soon had to develop production methods that could accommodate the high demand for portraits, and also for copies and versions of them which were given as gifts to family and courtiers. The use of studio assistants was a common practice for busy artists and as with Van Dyck, Lely is known to have used specialist assistants to execute particular parts of his paintings. Artists who worked in Lely`s studio included John Baptist Gaspars who specialised in drapery painting, William Wissing, John Greenhill...

Oil on oak panel Image size: 17 1/4 x 22 1/4 inches (44 x 56.5 cm) Period oak frame This is a portrait of a Tudor gentleman in an open next shirt with one hand raised to his chest. ...

Portrait Of A Black Girl With A White Doll, 19th Century by L P Burey Large 19th Century American School portrait of a young black girl sitting with a white doll, oil on canvas by ...

A charming study of an older gentleman reading the newspaper. Signed illegibly to the lower right. Presented in a gilt frame with foliate strapwork. On canvas.

A charming portrait study of a Victorian lady wearing a black mourning shawl. A white dress with a lace collar is shown beneath the shawl with a decorat...

A striking portrait depicting a man in the driver's seat of a car. he clutches the steering wheel in one hand and looks towards the passenger side. Captured in vivid colours in an ex...

Portrait of a Lady in a Lilac Hat French, late 20th century oil on board, unframed board: 16 x 13 inches Provenance: private collection, France Condition: very good condition For m...

Oil on canvas Image size: 30 1/4 x 25 inches (77 x 63 cm) Original hand carved gilt frame Provenance Private Estate, England This is a very fine example of Kneller's work in the early 18th century. Here, the emphasis is placed directly on the sitter's alluring femininity, with this being enhanced by the falling hair around her shoulder. This looseness of focus is created with a free fluidity of brushstrokes. He has used a Rembrandt-esque technique of subtle tones in the face, and we can see how Kneller often allowed the bluer ground layer to show through when suggesting the darker flesh tones.The painterly technique seen here is an excellent demonstration of Kneller’s style. The bold handling of the flesh tones is Kneller at his most emphatic, while the sizeable areas of dark grey ground we see are indicative of his method of painting quickly, developed by this stage in his career to cope with the many demands of a large circle of patrons. The same effect is used for the shadows in the face: rather than paint darker colours on top of the pink flesh tones, as most artists would have done, Kneller instead painted in the reverse order, using the ground layer for his dark shadows, and then painting the lighter colours on top. Often he worked with an almost dry brush in strong firm strokes. Here the flesh tones have been rapidly, almost roughly painted, with bold areas of impasto giving way to areas where almost no paint has been applied at all, a trick that allowed Kneller to use the blue-grey ground layer to show darker flesh tones. Godfrey Kneller...

A late 18th early 19th century oil on canvas Portrait of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, bust-length, in an interior, holding papers.Attributed to George Francis Joseph...

A 19th century black and white spaniel standing in a landscape, with a country house in the distance. Signed C B Spalding, lower right. Oil on canvas in a giltwood frame. Charles B...

A large, bold portrait study of Hecate, a Greek Goddess variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, night, light and magic. Well presented in a painted wood frame. Signed an...

Circle of Pieter Harmensz Verelst 1618 - 1678 Portrait of a Young Man Oil on oak panel Image size: 7 ½ x 5 ¾ inches Dutch ripple frame

Oil on Canvas "The girl in the Red Dress" by W Frank Calderon, RA (no58) Exhibit 1911. Calderon was influenced by the "Art Nouveau"period, this painting shows his beautiful detailed...

The item is located in London, will be shipped stretched, ready to be framed/ hung unframed. the item is located in central London.UK can be picked up/shipped. No customs charges ar...

Portrait of a Lady (could be straight out of a Jane Austen novel!) English School (very early 19th Century, circa 1800-1820) oil on canvas, framed in an antique gilt frame with shell...

'The Market Seller in Nice', gouache on paper, by Alfred Salvignol (circa 1950s). The role of women as support to their families has been both very important and highly undervalued b...

A minimalist portrait of young Helen, gazing with intent to the left. Well-presented in a complimenting pale pink frame. Signed and titled verso. On canvas on stretchers.

Marco’s background is in engineering and architecture, making him familiar with mathematical design and the awareness of geometry. When he decided to create art, he was naturally dra...

Portrait Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Stafford (1593-1641), 17th Century Circle of Anthonius VAN DYCK (1599-1641) Fine 17th century English School Old Master portrait of Anthonius...

Portrait of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), 17th century circle of Robert WALKER (1599-1658) Large 17th Century English Civil War portrait of Oliver ...

A charming oil portrait of professor Stuart from the Sexton of St Botolph’s Church, Cambridge, 1942. Unsigned. With provenance retained from the artist's family. On board.

This lovely British Edwardian portrait oil painting is attributed to female artist Ursula Wood. Painted circa 1910 is is a half length portrait of a beautiful woman in an orange shaw...

Portrait of Sir William Cowper [1639-1706] Circle of Michael Dahl. (unsigned)Oil painting on canvas 17th century oval, bust-length, with a long dark wig,...