Antique Image of the Day: Girl with a Fan, 1864

Girl with a Fan, 1864
William Dobson
Watercolor and gouache.
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Influenced by the tastes and styles of their Queen, the Victorian public preferred idealized portraits of young girls.  Such depictions arose beginning with Queen Victoria's reign as the fresh-faced young woman took the throne.  Since the queen was an attractive young lady, similarly innocent faces became the subject of oil paintings, watercolors and prints of all kinds.

This painting by William Charles Thomas Dobson (RA, RWS, 1817-1898) is rendered in watercolor and gouache.  It  was described in the words of a contemporary as having “a roundness and sweetness which is never sensual.”

William Dobson began his career as a prolific painter of religious themes.  His greatest hope was to revive popular interest religious art.  Nevertheless, the audience was limited and Dobson went on to paint less ponderous subjects like this attractive picture.  Dobson often peppered his works with a stylized orientalism which successfully increased their public appeal.  From 1842 until 1894 he exhibited many paintings in this style at the Royal Academy.

Here, we see Dobson’s rather inaccurate depiction of an Asian girl in a turban and a striped silk brocade robe.  It was painted in 1864, not from life, but in his studio, using props which Dobson thought would seem authentically Asian.

Painting of the Day: The Stray Kitten, 1835

Click Image to Enlarge
"The Stray Kitten"
William Collins, 1835
The Victoria & Albert Museum

William Collins (1788-1847) a student of the Royal Academy of Arts quickly became a celebrated and fashionable painter whose landscapes and rustic genre paintings (especially those of children—a favorite subject of Collins) were eagerly collected. The art-buying public gobbled up Collins’ scenes, drawn-in by his ability to convey emotion and feeling without being overtly sentimental. Prints created after Collins’ paintings were big sellers. Collins remained popular even after his death due, in large part, to the loving biography written by his equally famous son, author Wilkie Collins.

Here’s one of Collins’ typical works. This one is the second version of the same scene. The original was commissioned by one Mr. Holden and first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1833. This 1835 version is nearly identical to the original painting. Since the original had been so well-received, Collins knew he had a hit. However, Mr. Holden was not keen on continuing to exhibit the original version, preferring to keep it in his own collection. And, so, Collin’s created this second canvas to display at the Royal Academy. I don’t think anyone really ever noticed the difference. 

Called “The Stray Kitten,” (happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr)  both versions of the painting drew large crowds who were attracted to its easily-relatable theme and content. In May of 1833, “The Athenaeum” critic wrote of the original version of the painting that it was, “in his best manner; it is a picture that many will covet, for it cannot but be felt by all.”

Painting of the Day: "The Hermit" by Charles Landseer, 1841

"The Hermit"
Charles Landseer, 1841
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Painted in 1841 by the famed Charles Landseer (1799-1879), this canvas is entitled “The Hermit.”

Given to the V&A in 1859 by John Sheepshanks, the painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy the year it was painted. At that exhibition (from where the man who sold it to Sheepshanks purchased it), the painting was displayed with the following narrative poem, also called “The Hermit, which was posthumously published in 1721. It read:
Far in a wild, unknown to public view,
From youth to age a reverend hermit grew;
The moss his bed, the cave his humble cell,
His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well.
Remote from men, with God he passed the days,
Prayer all his business, all his pleasures praise.

David Lucas, the grandson of the famed engraver of the same name, hinted in 1925 that the model for this painting was his grandfather. The elder Lucas was known to have worked as a fortune teller at the Cremorne Gardens where he lived as something of a hermit. It was all an act, of course. Lucas wore a long dressing-gown and false beard rather like the subject of this painting. 

Sculpture of the Day: Hush-a-bye, Baby, 1874

Study for "The Rocking Chair"
Dalou, 1874
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Hush a bye baby on the tree top,
When the bough bends the cradle will rock. 


The above nursery rhyme is inscribed into the base of this terracotta sculpture. The piece was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 1874. The work of Aimé-Jules Dalou (1838-1902), the figure group is a study for a large marble group which was commissioned by the Duke of Westminster.

The marble group, called “The Rocking Chair,” was finished based on this terracotta study. The final piece was shown in 1875 at the Royal Academy and remains in the collection of the Dukes of Westminster.

Painting of the Day: A Study of Clouds by John Constable, 1823

Click on image for original size.
A Study of Clouds
John Constable, RA
September 5, 1822
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The famed artist John Constable (1776-1837) wrote in 1822 that he had finished: “about 50 careful studies of skies tolerably large.” Here we see one of them—dating to September 5, 1822. 

The reverse of this work of oil paint on paper is inscribed: “Looking S.E. noon. Wind very brisk. & effect bright & fresh. Clouds. moving very fast. With occasional very bright openings to the blue.”

Mr. Punch in the Arts: John Anthony Puller’s “Punch and Judy”

John Anthony Puller
The Royal Academy

English genre and landscape painter, John Anthony Puller, was born in London in 1799. Puller showed at the Royal Academy at the young age of twenty-two, and from 1825 to 1867 exhibited over eighty paintings at the Royal Society of Artists. Known for his sensitive and colorful scenes, Puller always demonstrated an easy manner in depicting everyday life. His particular forte was showing natural scenes of the way people really lived.

This circa 1850 painting entitled, Punch and Judy, shows observers of a small village, “Punch” show. Young and old of varied classes have gathered to watch Mr. Punch and his wife. Even a dog sits passively by to watch. To mirror the mischievous Mr. Punch, Puller has included children sneaking a look into the rear of the performance tent in an effort to see the puppeteers. This sort of painting is what set John Anthony Puller apart—his skilled hand was able to combine the human-themes genre scenes that he so loved with the beauty of landscape painting.

I find this work particularly enjoyable. It gives us a sense of the visual style of a “Punch” show of the era. 

Sculpture of the Day: Hush-a-bye, Baby, 1874

Study for "The Rocking Chair"
Dalou, 1874
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Hush a bye baby on the tree top,
When the bough bends the cradle will rock. 


The above nursery rhyme is inscribed into the base of this terracotta sculpture. The piece was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 1874. The work of Aimé-Jules Dalou (1838-1902), the figure group is a study for a large marble group which was commissioned by the Duke of Westminster.

The marble group, called “The Rocking Chair,” was finished based on this terracotta study. The final piece was shown in 1875 at the Royal Academy and remains in the collection of the Dukes of Westminster.

Drawing of the Day: Study of a Frog, c. 1860

Click image to "jump" to a larger size.
Oil Study of a Frog
Sir Edwin Landseer, c. 1850
The Victoria & Albert Museum
Highlight the line below this one to see what I think her name is...
Marjorie Morning Frog

Nobody painted animals like Sir Edwin Landseer, RA (1802 (0r 1803)-1873).  Here’s a study in oils for a larger painting which Landseer completed in the 1850s.  It’s a frog, obviously.  The sketch alone was exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Painting of the Day: A Study of Clouds by John Constable, 1823

Click on image for original size.
A Study of Clouds
John Constable, RA
September 5, 1822
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The famed artist John Constable (1776-1837) wrote in 1822 that he had finished: “about 50 careful studies of skies tolerably large.” Here we see one of them—dating to September 5, 1822. 

The reverse of this work of oil paint on paper is inscribed: “Looking S.E. noon. Wind very brisk. & effect bright & fresh. Clouds. moving very fast. With occasional very bright openings to the blue.”

Painting of the Day: "The Hermit" by Charles Landseer, 1841

"The Hermit"
Charles Landseer, 1841
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Painted in 1841 by the famed Charles Landseer (1799-1879), this canvas is entitled “The Hermit.”

Given to the V&A in 1859 by John Sheepshanks, the painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy the year it was painted. At that exhibition (from where the man who sold it to Sheepshanks purchased it), the painting was displayed with the following narrative poem, also called “The Hermit, which was posthumously published in 1721. It read:

Far in a wild, unknown to public view,
From youth to age a reverend hermit grew;
The moss his bed, the cave his humble cell,
His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well.
Remote from men, with God he passed the days,
Prayer all his business, all his pleasures praise.

David Lucas, the grandson of the famed engraver of the same name, hinted in 1925 that the model for this painting was his grandfather. The elder Lucas was known to have worked as a fortune teller at the Cremorne Gardens where he lived as something of a hermit. It was all an act, of course. Lucas wore a long dressing-gown and false beard rather like the subject of this painting. 

Painting of the Day: The Stray Kitten, 1835

Click Image to Enlarge
"The Stray Kitten"
William Collins, 1835
The Victoria & Albert Museum

William Collins (1788-1847) a student of the Royal Academy of Arts quickly became a celebrated and fashionable painter whose landscapes and rustic genre paintings (especially those of children—a favorite subject of Collins) were eagerly collected. The art-buying public gobbled up Collins’ scenes, drawn-in by his ability to convey emotion and feeling without being overtly sentimental. Prints created after Collins’ paintings were big sellers. Collins remained popular even after his death due, in large part, to the loving biography written by his equally famous son, author Wilkie Collins.

Here’s one of Collins’ typical works. This one is the second version of the same scene. The original was commissioned by one Mr. Holden and first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1833. This 1835 version is nearly identical to the original painting. Since the original had been so well-received, Collins knew he had a hit. However, Mr. Holden was not keen on continuing to exhibit the original version, preferring to keep it in his own collection. And, so, Collin’s created this second canvas to display at the Royal Academy. I don’t think anyone really ever noticed the difference. 


Called “The Stray Kitten,” (happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr)  both versions of the painting drew large crowds who were attracted to its easily-relatable theme and content. In May of 1833, “The Athenaeum” critic wrote of the original version of the painting that it was, “in his best manner; it is a picture that many will covet, for it cannot but be felt by all.”

Painting of the Day: The Lesson, or 'Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined

The Lesson
William Mulready, 1859
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The quotation which was exhibited with this painting by William Mulready (RA, 1786-1862) comes from Alexander Pope's Moral Essays, which was published in the period 1731-1735:

'Tis education forms the common mind,
Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.

With this work, Mulready emphasizes the nurturing role of a mother in a composition that owes a lot to the traditional theme of the Madonna and Child.  It was painted in 1859. 

Painting of the Day: Girl with a Fan, 1864

Girl with a Fan, 1864
William Dobson
Watercolor and gouache.
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Influenced by the tastes and styles of their Queen, the Victorian public preferred idealized portraits of young girls.  Such depictions arose beginning with Queen Victoria's reign as the fresh-faced young woman took the throne.  Since the queen was an attractive young lady, similarly innocent faces became the subject of oil paintings, watercolors and prints of all kinds.

This painting by William Charles Thomas Dobson (RA, RWS, 1817-1898) is rendered in watercolor and gouache.  It  was described in the words of a contemporary as having “a roundness and sweetness which is never sensual.”

William Dobson began his career as a prolific painter of religious themes.  His greatest hope was to revive popular interest religious art.  Nevertheless, the audience was limited and Dobson went on to paint less ponderous subjects like this attractive picture.  Dobson often peppered his works with a stylized orientalism which successfully increased their public appeal.  From 1842 until 1894 he exhibited many paintings in this style at the Royal Academy.

Here, we see Dobson’s rather inaccurate depiction of an Asian girl in a turban and a striped silk brocade robe.  It was painted in 1864, not from life, but in his studio, using props which Dobson thought would seem authentically Asian.

Painting of the Day: “A Highland Breakfast,” Sir Edwin Landseer, 1834

A Highland Breakfast
Landseer, 1834
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Edwin Landseer loved dogs, or at least painting them. And, I can tell you that dog’s love breakfast. So, this painting is the perfect loving combination.

In this 1834 canvas by Landseer, called “A Highland Breakfast,” we see a young mother feeding her child while the family dogs enjoy their breakfast from a large tub nearby. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1834 when a reviewer noted, “the group of terriers and hounds... socially toiling with their teeth.... [and the] young mother giving her child the breast... the innocence of the latter, and the truth and nature of the former are equally striking.” This truth was the hallmark of Landseer’s work. The artist had an innate ability to combine a genre scene with his beloved canine studies, and does so effortlessly here in this intimate Scottish setting.

This painting was another of the many genre works collecting by the celebrated John Sheepshanks.

The Belle Époque Today: The Art of Peter Kuhfeld, RP

The Wyndham Family
Peter Kuhfeld

A member of the Royal Academy, The Royal Society of Portrait Painters, and the New English Art Club, Peter Kuhfeld has been painting since 1972. This multiple-prize winning figurative painter has impressed critics and art lovers with his richly-colored portraits.


Kuhfeld not only shows the essence of his sitters in his romanticized portraits, but also has mastered showing them in their natural surroundings and in compositions which don’t appear to be posed, but rather seem to be captured moments in time. While his loose brushstrokes lend an ethereal quality to his subjects, his brave use of color affords them weight and permanence while his brilliant rendering of light and shadow anchor his subjects into the frame of the composition.

HRH Charles, The Prince of Wales
Peter Kuhfeld

A proponent of the New English Art Movement, Kuhfeld continues to prove that a portrait doesn’t need to be a photographic representation in order to effectively and attractively showcase both the sitter’s beauty and the artist’s talent.

The Belle Époque Today: The Art of Bernard Dunstan, RA

Campo S. Apostoli
Bernard Dunstan

A member of the Royal Academy since 1968, Bernard Dunstan has redefined the idea of “Impressionism” by imbuing his work with the ideals of painters such as Renoir, Bonnard and Vuillard, but creating a distinct atmospheric style of his own. His love of Impressionist painters has led Dunstan to write several books on the subject. Meanwhile, his exceptional paintings have found their way into the collections of The British National Portrait Gallery, The Museum of London and The Royal Collection.


With his tender brushstrokes and brilliant use of color, Dunstan’s works come to life. While they mirror their Nineteenth Century forebearers, they take their images to a new level of added dimension and meaning.

The Belle Époque Today: The Art of Michael Rooney, RA

The Photographer's Studio
Mick Rooney
The Royal Academy

Royal Academician Michael Rooney was a passionate painter at an early age, studying at the Royal College of Art and British School in Rome. His work is unusual, mysterious, atmospheric and almost spooky in a way that puts one in mind of the work of a polychrome Charles Addams. For that reason alone, I find it charming.


Michael, known as “Mick” Rooney, says this of his work:

I am a narrative painter who seeks stories to tell, and as such I am ever conscious of the perceived difference between ‘high art’ and illustration. I prefer the word illumination which, rich with the promise of clarity and insight, somehow speaks directly to the soul.

Woman with Fishes
Mick Rooney
The Royal Academy

At once startling and exciting, Mick Rooney’s work doesn’t struggle to show an idealized life, but, rather to show the very essence of life. These bug-eyed children, for example, would be quite gruesome if one encountered them on the street, but in their painted form, they do seem like an excellent representation of many of the children I saw writhing around stores this past week. Similarly, the painting “Woman with Fishes”—this is not just a portrait of a woman with fishes, but rather a statement of those clammy, dull moments which we all experience every so often. No, it’s not pretty in a conventional way. But, we often give up traditional beauty for the truth of experience.

The Belle Époque Today: The Art of Bill Jacklin, RA

Broadway Encounter III
Bill Jacklin, RA

Royal Academician Bill Jacklin began his painting career in the 1960’s--focused primarily on abstraction.  In the 1970’s the artist began to show more of a figurative approach to his painting and demonstrated a masterful ability to convey a sense of motion through light.  With numerous important commissions to his credit, in 1985, Jacklin left England for New York where he continues to paint scenes of urban life—capturing fleeting moments of great drama which he manages to convey through his superb handling of light and shadow.  For more information about this excellent artist, visit his Web site.

The Belle Époque Today: The Art of Ben Levene, RA

My philosophy is that I like one foot in the unknown and one foot in reality. The familiarity of the real helps the viewer to access my pictures, but I always take liberties with the subject, depending on my own perceptions.

--Ben Levene, RA, 1938-2010

Celebrated painter Ben Levene of the Royal Academy made a name for himself not by following trends in the art world, but by following his instincts. As a child, Levene showed remarkable talent—so much so that the Art Master at his school sent the youngster to evening classes at the Hammersmith School of Art where he impressed his much older classmates with his remarkable innate talent.

The magnificence of Levene’s work lies in his ability to create iconic compositions that have a tremendous depth of field, yet are self-consciously aware of the natural flatness of the picture plane. The depth in much of Levene’s later work comes from his incorporation of gold and silver leaf as a base on the canvas. In much the way iconographers worked on images of holy people, Levene renders magnificent still lives, landscapes, townscapes, and figure compositions.

Ben Levene
The Royal Academy

Levene admitted that he turned to the great masters as a source of inspiration. He would draw upon Titian, Rembrandt, Degas and Goya as a reference point for color and composition, but would edit down his scenes to be powerfully spartan. His work is an interesting combination of abstraction and realism. Still lives shimmer with a natural light and a realistic depth, however, they startle the viewer because from the depth comes a jarring flatness. His landscapes glint with silver and gold skies with trees of natural coloring, which seem just slightly off-kilter in relation to the composition. Levene’s ability to play with the fabric of reality makes his work exciting.

The Belle Époque Today: The Art of Mary Fedden, OBE, RA

Boxing Day
Mary Fedden
The Royal Academy

Bold shapes, deep colors, and organic forms characterize the work of Royal Academy member, Mary Fedden. She produces amazingly fluid abstract still lives and landscapes that put one in mind of the work of Matisse. In fact, much like Matisse, she often uses cut paper in her work for dimension.

Born in Bristol in 1915, Fedden studied at the Slade School of Fine Arts in London from 1932-1936. She returned to Bristol where she taught painting until World War II. After the war, she developed a new, personal style which she exhibits to this day.

Irish Lilies
Mary Fedden
The Royal Academy

Though her more recent works stem from a more limited color palette, Fedden relies heavily on brilliant, contrasting colors to create a sense of movement and weight. From her London Studio on the Thames in London, Fedden continues to produce her masterpieces. Her outstanding work earned her an honorary doctorate from The University of Bath, an honorary degree from The University of Durham and the prestigious Order of the British Empire.

Fedden prefers to paint in her studio. She does, however, sketch subjects when she’s out. This video gives you a glimpse into the working habits of this clever artist.