Framed Portrait Paintings

Matt Talbert's "Waiting Patiently" (2024) is an original, handmade oil painting on panel that depicts a portrait of a woman looking at the viewer with an abstracted and colorful back...

James Fellowes Flourished 1719 - 1750 Portrait of William Henry Kerr, Earl of Ancram, 4th Marquess of Lothian Oil on canvas, signed & dated 1747 Image size: 29 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches (75 x 62 cm) Original gilt wood frame William Henry Kerr was born a member of the Scottish peerage to William, third Marquess of Lothian, and his first wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Nicholson of Kemnay, first Baronet. William was styled Master Jedburgh until 1722, when his father was elevated to a Marquessate, after which he was referred to as Lord Jedburgh until 1735. Following his father’s military footsteps, on 20 June 1735 Ancram was commissioned as a cornet to the regiment (11th Dragoons) of his grand-uncle, Lord Mark Kerr. Ancram married Lady Caroline...

"Woman with Earrings" is an oil on board portrait painting by Philadelphia born Expressionist painter Bernard Harmon of an elegantly dressed woman sitting on a chair. This work features a second environmental portrait on verso. The painting is 40" x 34" in size and is signed "Harmon" on verso. Figurative expressionism in the style of Alice Neel. Provenance: Estate of the Artist; Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio, Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Bernard Harmon was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1935. Harmon was primarily a portrait painter and a well loved teacher in the Philadelphia area. A graduate of the Philadelphia Museum School and Temples Tyler School of Art, Harmon traveled extensively in Europe and South America. Beloved by many, Harmon taught in the Philadelphia School District for 32 of his 54 years of life. Beginning his career as an art teacher at West Philadelphia High School, in the early 1960s he became one of the district's artists in residence, traveling from school to school to demonstrate for students how an artist works. Returning to the classroom, Harmon joined the art department at Central High School where he taught for 14 years and became an innovator in art curriculum, developing a program offering advanced placement art classes to gifted students. In his final years Harmon became a supervisor, mentoring teachers and overseeing programs in the Philadelphia school systems District #1. During his short life Harmon taught collage preparatory art classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, summer classes at the University of the Arts, and a Saturday program for gifted children at Drexel University. Among Harmon's portraits were commissioned by Philadelphia Jazz organist Jimmy Smith and Mayor Richardson Dilworth. Bernard Harmon was active in promoting African American Artist throughout his life time. He organized many early shows such as the "Afro American Artists 1800 - 1969" at the Museum of the Philadelphia Civic Center in 1969. He was considered a Renaissance man by friends and colleagues for his interests not only in art but music and theater as well. He was familiar and friends with many other African American artists such as Doc Thrash, Selma Burke...

One of my best works in this series is "Art from Money." A painting with a philosophical meaning:The painting reflects the philosophy of human impact on the planet. The painting i...

A breathtaking oil painting by Israeli Born-New York based artist Yigal Ozeri. This hyperrealist portrait of a young girl staring back at her viewer, is a classic example of the arti...

The figurative surrealistic paintings of Carlos Gamez de Francisco are heavily influenced by his Cuban upbringing. This presence exposed Francisco to the world of figurative arts whi...

F. Carbonara was an Italian miniature portrait artist active in the early 19th century. There is an example by him at the metropolitan museum. • Extremely fine brushwork in the face...

Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) Four lithographs on wove paper For serious collectors and museum collections. A full set of Mucha’s iconic period lithographs representing The Times Of Th...

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 ...

French Coastal Sunset, possibly near Etretat, Le Havre, dated 1928 by Alfred Bergström (1869-1930) Fine huge 1928 French Coastal Sunset Landscape, p...

"Reading" is a painterly contemporary oil painting of woman with a book. A timeless image. Framed in a simple, modern floating frame. Kelly Carmody has exhibited at venues including the Portrait Society of America and the Art Students League. Most recently, she was selected for the 2015 BP Portrait Award Show at the National Portrait Gallery in London and the 2016 Outwin Boochever Award at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. In addition, the historic Guild of Boston Artists...

French School of the 17th Century – Circle of Pierre Mignard (1612-1695) Title: Female portrait with flowers Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: without frame 81 × 68 cm – with frame ...

"Sisterhood II" Figurative Oil Painting 43 "x 39" inch by Yousra Hafad Yousra Hafad is a young artist who excels in portraiture and particularly the meti...

Saverio Dalla Rosa (Verona, Italy, 1745 - 1821) Title: Portrait of Angela Guggerotti Fracastoro Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: without frame 94 x 73 cm - with frame 105 x 94 cm Fr...

Art: 30" x 24" Frame: 36.50" x 30.50" Oil on canvas signed and dated lower right.

"Tea Party" by Kirsten Savage is an original, handmade oil painting on panel that depicts a woman sitting on an orange couch, in a sheer white skirt, holding a cup of tea. Kirsten ...

Konstantin Yegorovich Makovsky (Russian 1839 – 1915) was an influential Russian painter At the World's Fair of 1889 in Paris, he received the Large Gold Medal for his paintings Deat...

This interesting British Post Impressionist portrait oil painting is by noted female artist Pauline Glass. The Sitter is Sybyl, details verso. Painted circa 1950 it is a head and sho...

Provenance Acquired by the gallery directly from the artist UNFRAMED: 12" x 12" FRAMED: 19.75" x 19.75" x 2" Signed "Jove Wang 24" on lower right

Portrait of a Mother & Baby, 19th Century School of Friedrich August Von Kaulbach (1850-1920) Fine large 19th Century portrait of a mother and b...

Oil on canvas Image size: 30 x 25 inches (76 x 63.5 cm) Hand carved gilt frame This is a charming 18th century portrait of a young boy, sporting a golden child's two-piece with a fl...

Hunt Slonem "Mexican Red Head" Multicolor Amazon Parrot A single bird gestured in yellow, red and green on a white background in a vintage frame Unframed: 10 x 8 inches Framed: 13 x...

Offered for sale is a vibrant and whimsical oil on canvas, signed in the lower right, depicting an elegant seaside café scene. The composition shows three stylishly dressed women sea...

A finely detailed oil painting on canvas portrait of an unidentified Russian officer, dating to the 18th or 19th century, unsigned, and housed in a spe...

A romantic 19th-century portrait capturing a beautiful young lady gazing wistfully into the distance as she clasps a book. She wears a powder pink gown with delicate tulle sleeves, w...

This piece, "Leap of Faith", is a 24x16 oil painting on canvas by artist Marie Channer. Featured is a ballet dancer in the spotlight of the stage, caught in pose. Overall cool tones ...

Oil Painting after Rembrandt von RIJN "The Shipbuilders Wife" 1606 - 1669. Fine early 19th Century study of a detail of Rembrandts famous painting the ...

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...

Austrian School, Family Portrait, Oil on Canvas, late 19th century, depicting a husband and wife with young child in a garden, surrounded by cherubs, signed "Pawlicek" lower right, g...

This tender interior scene by Henry Bacon captures a moment of warmth and domestic harmony. A young mother leans gently over a carved red cradle while her daughter, dressed in a whit...

Italian painting of Alphonsus Liguori in French Neo-Gothic Frame Italian and French, Late 18th and 19th Century Frame: Height 61cm, width 39cm, depth 6cm Panel: Height 28cm, width 22...

"ALACRAN" Portrait Painting (FRAMED) 40" x 30" inch by Isaac Pelayo Medium: Oil stick aerosol on paper Size framed: 43.5" x 33.5" inch ABOUT THE ARTIST: Isaac Pelayo is a h...

Georges HYON (Paris 1840 – Saint Germain en Laye 1913) Cavalry review of the 2nd Lancers regiment Oil on canvas H. 115 cm; W. 146.5 cm Signed lower left A student of Portalis, Georg...

She sits at the threshold of transformation. A young woman, caught in the quiet exultation before her first ball, smiles—not to anyone in particular, but to herself, and to the mome...

In continuing with representing fine artists that are connected to the music industry we are please to represent the paintings of British artist George Underwood...

Unknown Artist (English or American, nineteenth century) William Shakespeare Oil on canvas, mounted on board; 9 x 7 1/4 inches FRAMED: 14 1/2 x 13 inches (approx.) This work depicts...

Circle of Willem Wissing Dutch, (1656-1687) Portrait of a Gentleman Oil on canvas Image size: 29 inches x 24.5 inches Size including frame: 35 inches x...

Tribute to Artists 17 is a unique painting by contemporary artist Hongyu Zhang. The painting is made with Indian ink, acrylic, charcoal, pastel and engraving on gray cardboard mounte...

Part of Giancarlo Impiglia's iconic "camouflage" series in which, deviating from his signature style, he expresses his classical education, flawless technique, and concerns about the...

This painting, titled Memento Mori is an ode to vintage skull portraits. Framed in vintage gold frame, wired and ready to hang, 10.5 in. wide x 12 in. high

La Petite Laitière Bretonne, dated 1898 by Maurice GRÜN (1869-1947) Large 19th Century French Breton village girl portrait, oil on canvas by Maurice Grun. Exceptional quality and c...

A large female figural portrait of a romantic era woman in canary yellow silk dress and ornate structured bonnet with violet bows. Posed within a garden next to a large bush of white...

"See No Evil" is an oil painting. It depicts a woman, the artist, Maryann Lucas covering her eyes with her hands. The two tone composition represents the artist's astrological sign, ...

Scipione Pulzone, called Il Gaetano (Gaeta 1544 - Rome 1598) - workshop of Portrait of Bianca Cappello (Venice, 1548 - 1587) Grand Duchess of Tuscany, second wife of Francesco I de 'Medici Second half of the 16th century oil on canvas, cm. 70 x 56 cm., Framed 103 x 87 cm. The proposed painting illustrates the portrait of Bianca Cappello (Venice, 1548 - 1587), a noblewoman of Venetian origins, second wife of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Francesco I de 'Medici, whose expressive power is wisely highlighted by the composite cut of light three quarters, with the head and gaze directed at the observer. The beam of light coming from her right brings out the volumes of her face plastically and lingers on her features, highlighted by the large white lace ruff that surrounds his neck and by the details of her precious clothing. Bianca wears a dark red dress, perhaps a zimarra, embroidered in gold with a plunging neckline and a raised collar of the shirt curled in a ruff and also edged with precious lace, embroidered with the motif of the Florentine lily.   The favorite jewels of the noblewoman were pearls: we see them on a choker that adorns the neckline, in the earrings and again in the hairstyle, which sees the hair gathered at the nape of the neck and adorned with a string of small black pearls and embellished with a clasp. It is a high-quality painting that can be confined to the workshop of the painter Scipione Pulzone called Gaetano, representing at best a pictorial genre, that of portraiture, in which the master excelled. This attribution would be confirmed by comparisons with the numerous portraits that Pulzone dedicated to the Medici family. Our painting, in particular, could represent one of the versions that the workshop has replicated, at the request of the numerous art collectors who wish to have a portrait of one of the most influential personalities of the Florentine scene. The characters drawn by Pulzone were icons of incomparable elegance: noblewomen, knights and religious lent their faces to the eye of the artist who was able to grasp every meticulous detail with his superb technique. A photographic wealth and surprising material attention that trace the pictorial prototypes of Flemish inspiration, in particular of Antonis Mor...

I have great pleasure in offering for sale this beautiful portrait, by Nathaniel Hone, the elder. 18th century. The painting is of Ann Anderson, wife...

The Thatcher by John Edwards (England, 1940 - 2020) signed oil on canvas, framed framed: 29 x 23.5 inches canvas : 23 x 18 inches Provenance: private collection, England Condition: v...

An original contemporary oil by Helen Cutler. Presented in a wide matt black frame under glazing. Signed. On canvas stretcher over board.

Hunt Slonem "Sky Light" Blue Oval Bunny A single rabbit gestured in black on a light blue background in a vintage frame Unframed: 12 x 10 inches Framed: 17.5 x 15.5 inches *Painting...

Provenance: Lewis J. Ruskin, Arizona, 1958–1981; thence by descent to the present owner. This charming portrait of a young boy with his pet squirrel is a newly-discovered work by G...

The Cotswolds Stone Wall Builder by John Edwards (England, 1940 - 2020) signed oil on canvas, framed framed: 29 x 23.5 inches canvas : 23 x 18 inches Provenance: private collection, ...

Victor Lagerström (1864–1948) Sweden Portrait of an Elderly Man, 1913 oil on canvas signed “V.L” and dated “13” unframed: 24.5 × 22 cm (9.65 × 8.66 in) framed: 42 × 39 cm (16.54 ×...

This intimate portrait depicts a bearded monk in profile, rendered with masterful attention to naturalistic detail including weathered skin, expressive eyes, and dishevelled curly ha...

Antoine VESTIER, attributed to (Avallon, 1740 - Paris, 1824) Portrait of a man under the Revolution Oil on canvas H. 46 cm; L. 37 cm Circa 1793-95 This beautiful unsigned portrait i...

French Academic painter Guillaume Seignac was renowned for his masterful treatment of the idealized nude. His languishing female subjects based on Greco-Roman prototypes were and rem...

This captivating oil painting by renowned French artist Paul Aïzpiri presents one of his beloved recurring themes — the clown — rendered with bold lines, rich textures, and a vivid t...

I love your “Boogies-woogies”, (Adoro tus "Bugisvugis"). Figurative painting with popular dancers and musicians. Acrylic on canvas. Measurements in centimeters: 97 x 130 x 3 cm. Fram...

English School, (circa 1600) Portrait of William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke Oil on panel, oval Image size: 29¼ x 23⅞ inches Painted wooden frame Provenance: 176, Collection of Francis Greville, 1st Earl of Warwick. The Trustees of the Lord Brooks’ Settlement, (removed from Warwick Castle). Sotheby’s, London, 22nd March 1968, lot 81. Painted onto wooden panel, this portrait shows a dark haired gentleman in profile sporting an open white shirt. On top of this garments is a richly detailed black cloak, decorated with gold thread and lined with a sumptuous crimson lining. With the red silk inside it’s all very expensive and would fall under sumptuary laws – so this is a nobleman of high degree. It’s melancholic air conforms to the contemporary popularity of this very human condition, evident in fashionable poetry and music of the period. In comparison to our own modern prejudices, melancholy was associated with creativity in this period. This portrait appeared in the earliest described list of pictures of Warwick castle dating to 1762. Compiled by collector and antiquary Sir William Musgrave ‘taken from the information of Lord & Lady Warwick’ (Add. MSS, 5726 fol. 3) is described; ‘8. Earl of Essex – an original by Zuccharo – seen in profile with black hair. Holding a black robe across his breast with his right hand.’ As tempting as it is to imagine that this is a portrait of Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl Essex, we might take this with a pinch of salt. Its identification with this romantic and fatal Elizabethan might well have been an attempt to add romance to Warwick Castle’s walls. It doesn’t correspond all that well with Essex’s portraits around 1600 after his return from Cadiz. Notably, this picture was presumably hung not too far away from the castle’s two portraits of Queen Elizabeth I. The first, and undoubtedly the best, being the exquisite coronation portrait that was sold by Lord Brooke in the late 1970s and now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. The second, described as being ‘a copy from the original at Ld Hydes’, has yet to resurface. The portrait eventually ended up being hung in the State Bedroom of Warwick Castle. Archival documents present one other interesting candidate. The Greville family’s earliest inventory of paintings, made in 1630 at their home Brooke House in Holborn, London, describes five portraits of identified figures. All five belonged to the courtier, politician and poet Sir Fulke Greville (1554-1628), 1st Baron Brooke, and were hung in the ‘Gallerie’ of Brooke House behind yellow curtains. One of them was described as being of ‘Lord of Pembrooke’, which is likely to have been William Herbert (1580-1630), 3rd Earl of Pembroke. William was the eldest son of Greville’s best friend’s sister Mary Sidney, and was brought up in the particularly literary and poetically orientated household which his mother had supported. Notably, the 3rd Earl was one of the figures that Shakespeare’s first folio was dedicated to in 1623. The melancholic air to the portrait corresponds to William’s own pretensions as a learned and poetic figure. The richness of the robe in the painting, sporting golden thread and a spotted black fabric, is indicative of wealth beyond that of a simple poet or actor. The portrait’s dating to around the year 1600 might have coincided with William’s father death and his own rise to the Pembroke Earldom. This period of his life too was imbued with personal sadness, as an illicit affair with a Mary Fitton had resulted in a pregnancy and eventual banishment by Elizabeth I to Wilton after a short spell in Fleet Prison. His illegitimate son died shortly after being born. Despite being a close follower of the Earl of Essex, William had side-stepped supporting Devereux in the fatal uprising against the Queen and eventually regained favour at the court of the next monarch James I. His linen shirt is edged with a delicate border of lace and his black cloak is lined on the inside with sumptuous scarlet and richly decorated on the outside with gold braid and a pattern of embroidered black spots. Despite the richness of his clothes, William Herbert has been presented in a dishevelled state of semi-undress, his shirt unlaced far down his chest with the ties lying limply over his hand, indicating that he is in a state of distracted detachment. It has been suggested that the fashion for melancholy was rooted in an increase in self-consciousness and introspective reflection during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In contemporary literature melancholy was said to be caused by a plenitude of the melancholy humor, one of the four vital humors, which were thought to regulate the functions of the body. An abundance of the melancholia humor was associated with a heightened creativity and intellectual ability and hence melancholy was linked to the notion of genius, as reflected in the work of the Oxford scholar Robert Burton, who in his work ‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’, described the Malcontent as ‘of all others [the]… most witty, [who] causeth many times divine ravishment, and a kind of enthusiamus… which stirreth them up to be excellent Philosophers, Poets and Prophets.’ (R. Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, London, 1621 in R. Strong, ‘Elizabethan Malady: Melancholy in Elizabethan and Jacobean Portraits’, Apollo, LXXIX, 1964). Melancholy was viewed as a highly fashionable affliction under Elizabeth I, and her successor James I, and a dejected demeanour was adopted by wealthy young men, often presenting themselves as scholars or despondent lovers, as reflected in the portraiture and literature from this period. Although the sitter in this portrait is, as yet, unidentified, it seems probable that he was a nobleman with literary or artistic ambitions, following in the same vain as such famous figures as the aristocratic poet and dramatist, Edward de Vere...

Romantic Portraits Richir Herman Brussels 1866 – 1942 Belgian Painter Signature: Attributed to Richir Herman Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: Image size 67,50 x 62,50 cm, frame size 69,50 x 64,50 cm Biography: Richir Herman Jean Joseph was born in Ixelles (Brussels), on November 4, 1866. He was a Belgian painter of portraits, still lifes, genre paintings, nudes and landscapes. He made decorative paintings to fit into private homes. Richir mainly painted portraits. His clients usually belonged to the higher circles. He portrayed amongst others King Albert and Queen Elisabeth, Cardinal Mercier and Countess d’Oultremont. Less known are the landscape paintings he made Limburg and Kempen, where he regularly stayed with befriended artist Emile Van Doren (1865 – 1949). Herman Richir first studied at the Sint-Joost-ten-Node Academy with Gustave Biot and Charles Hermans, continued his education at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels (1884-1889) with the master teacher and artist Jean-Francois Portaels (1818 – 1895). In 1886, during his studies, he won second Prize of Rome for Painting. Richir lived in Schaarbeek. In 1900 he became a teacher of drawing and in 1905 first teacher of painting after nature at the Brussels Academy. He was director there several times 1906-1907, 1910, 1911, 1915-1919, 1925-1927. He was retired in 1927. His pupils included Albert Alleman (1892 – 1933), Éliane de Meuse (1899 – 1993), Paul Hagemans (1884 – 1959), Maurice Mareels (1893 – 1976), Guy Onkelinx (1879 – 1935), Georges Rogy (1897 – 1981), José Storie (1899 – 1961), Charles Swyncop (1895 – 1970), Maurice Schelck...

Historically in Buddhist Tibet, patrons and monks commissioned thangka art, or sacred painting, to focus their meditations and prayers. This 19th-century Tibetan Thangka, painted in rich red, green, and blue pigments, still maintains incredible vibrancy. The central figure is the Sakyamuni Buddha, seated in the diamond position with alms bowl...

Adam Styka, Polish (1890-1959) Portrait of an orientalist beauty  Signed Adam Stryka (ll) Oil on panel Framed 20 x 17 inches 12.5 x 10 inches (31.8 x 25.4 cm)