Arthur Boyd Houghton

Arthur Boyd Houghton - Victorian Oil Painting of Figures in an Interior

1864

JOHN WILLIAM NORTH, ARA, RWS (1842-1924) Courtship - Bicknoller, Somerset Signed with initials l.r.: JWN Watercolour Framed 17.5 by 13.5 cm., 7 b...

JOHN GEORGE SOWERBY (1849-1914) Phoebe - The Open Window Watercolour heightened with white Unframed, in mount only 8 by 7 cm., 3 by 2 ¼ in. (mount size 25.5 by 20 cm., 10 by 8 in.) Reproduced: J G Sowerby & Thomas Crane, At Home, Marcus Ward & Co, 1881, p.42. The current work was reproduced in Sowerby and Crane’s 1881 children’s book, At Home, where is accompanied by the following verse: All the morning, all the morning, Sat she till her tasks were done; While without were birds and blossoms, And the pleasant sun. And the leaves in ev’ry rustle, And the birds in ev’ry song:- “Phoebe, Phoebe, are you coming? Phoebe, don’t be long!” Whispered thro’ the open window Gentle breezes, passing by:- “Phoebe, are you coming, Phoebe? Come before we die!” Till the clock, with joyful measure, Struck the hour when work is o’er; Crying “Ponto’” Phoebe vanished Through the open door. Whither sped out nimble Phoebe? She is in the study now; Ponto heard her with she called him, - Answered back “Bow-wow!’ “Ponto, tho’ the birds and garden, Called me all the morning thro’ I had first to do my lessons – So I think should you.” Poor old Ponto! He is longing, Longing for his game of play, And the garden – ah: but Phoebe Has a word to say. “Beg then – beg, sir – do you hear me? No, no, Ponto, that is wrong; Paws up! Steady! Ah, that’s better! Good dog, come along!” John George Sowerby was born into a prosperous Gateshead family of glass manufactures and artists. He inherited the family business, the Ellison Glass Works, one of the world’s largest producers of pressed glass, where he introduced designs inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement. Initially he combined his energies at the glass works with his work as an illustrator and painter of landscapes and floral subjects with a Pre-Raphaelite intensity, strong colours and rich detail. He exhibited many of these paintings at the Royal Academy. In the 1880s he collaborated with Newcastle artist, Henry Hetherington Emmerson, on illustrations for the children’s books Afternoon Tea (1880) and The May Blossom (1881). Although were critically very well received but the publications were attacked by Kate Greenaway who considered them too close to her own work. Sowerby then went on to produce highly aesthetic illustrated books At Home (1881) and At Home Again (1883), with decorations by Thomas Crane. Gleeson White, editor of The Studio magazine stated that in Afternoon Tea Sowerby “set a new fashion for ‘aesthetic’ little quartos’ (The Studio, 1897). Roger Dixon in Belfast Publishing (Oxford University Press, 2011, p.79) considered these At Home and At Home Again to be “among the loveliest books ever produced.” Never very wise as a business man, in the early 1880s he left Ellison Glass Works being declared bankrupt in 1884. He returned to the works again as a paid employee. Sowerby’s daughter, Millicent Sowerby...

GEORGE SHERINGHAM (1884-1937) Visit to the Bazaar Signed; inscribed with title on a label on the backboard Watercolour and gold paint on silk 15 by 38 cm., 6 by 15 in. (frame size 34 by 56 cm., 13 ½ by 22 in.) Exhibited: London, Leicester Galleries, Exhibition of Works by George Sheringham, 1916, no.17. Sheringham was born in London and studied at the Slade under Henry Tonks and later in Venice, Brussels, Berlin and Paris where he held his first one-man exhibition in 1905. On his return to London he initially supported himself with poster designs and teaching. His first exhibition of fan designs was held at the Ryder Gallery in 1909 followed by another in the following year. With enthusiastic reviews in Studio he had launched his career as a decorative designer, theatrical designer and illustrator. He illustrated books by Max Beerbohm and Cyrus MacMillan. In 1921 he collaborated with his brother Hugh on a book about fishing, The Book of the Fly Rod. He wrote Drawing in Pen and Pencil (1922), with James Laver, Design in the Theatre (1927) and with Rupert Mason and R Boyd Morrison he edited Robes of Thespis, Costume Designs by Modern Artists (1928). As a decorator, Sheringham designed the music room at 40 Devonshire House...

ROBERT SARGENT AUSTIN, RA, PRWS, RE (1895-1973) Going to Mass, Spain Black, brown and white chalks on grey paper Framed 49 by 38 cm., 19 ¼ by 15 in. (frame size 73 by 60.5 cm., 2...

This lovely British Victorian oil painting is by noted artist John Eaton Walker. Painted circa 1855 it is portrait in an interior of a beautiful young woman in a yellow satin dress. ...

A Dandy Time Was Had an interior Figural Scene by Walter Dendy Sadler 1880s Jovial evening of wine and good cheer by Walter Dendy Sadler (1854 - 19...

Artist/ School: David Wilkie Wynfield (1837-1887) British Title: Elegant Figures in an Interior Medium: oil painting on canvas, framed. Indistinctly Ins...

P Deltour (?) French school of the 19th century The artist with his model and friend in his workshop Oil on canvas Signed "P Deltour" (?) and dated 1879 on the lower, an indistinct i...