11/21/2024 17:50:48
Fine Genre Oil Painting by William Arthur Breakspeare Depicting the Fictional (1 of 8)
Wick Antiques Ltd
Flag of United KingdomHampshire, UK
Wick Antiques was established by Charles Wallrock in the early 1980s. Having grown up in the Antiques world Charles developed an extensive wealth of knowledge. Starting out as a ‘man with a van’ he quickly gained a good reputation and embarked on a longstanding relationship with Harrods. He was later joined by his wife, Caroline Wallrock. Caroline having completed a Persian degree, went on to study at Christie’s fine art and then joined Sotheby’s specializing in Islamic and Japanese works of art, as well as taking the occasional auction. Together they make a formidable team with extensive knowledge and buy and sell some of the best items on the market.
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Fine Genre Oil Painting by William Arthur Breakspeare Depicting the Fictional

REF: LA485110
£12,500
€14,602
$15,723
Certified DealerApproved item420 sales by dealer
Certified DealerApproved item420 sales by dealer
Description
This oil painting shows the fictional scene of Emma, Lady Hamilton meeting Lord Nelson in Romney’s studio. She is seated for her portrait wearing a full pink skirt under a tightly fitted blue jacket trimmed with pink ribbons and draped in a matching filmy blue shawl. Her face, under a large black hat, is turned away from Romney as she gazes up at Lord Nelson, who stands by her. The artist Romney waits patiently in the background with his brush poised in front of his canvas. Signed ‘W Brakespeare’. In the original gilt frame. English, 1883. Height: 36in (91cm) Width: 28in (71cm) Framed height: 46in (117cm) Width: 36in (91cm) £12,500 Provenance: The Samuel Aronoff Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio A private American collection Published: Nelson: An Illustrated History. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, 1995. Chapter 6. Stephen Deucher, The Immortal Memory, p. 160. Roger King,The Pursuit of Victory: The Life and Achievements of Horatio Nelson. London, 2005, p.544. This painting depicts Lady Hamilton sitting for her portrait and the proceedings being interrupted by a conversation with Lord Nelson. The meeting would never have happened as Emma’s last sitting for Romney was in 1786, but the subject gripped the public imagination, particularly in the late Victorian period after a successful play was written which hinged around this very scenario. The play, titled variously The Enchantress or Nelson’s Enchantress was penned by Risden Home. It was based on an earlier Neapolitan play which, in typical 19th century moralising fashion, depicted Nelson and Emma Hamilton as the “bad” characters in the play. The play opened in London in 1897 and then toured the country. William Arthur Breakspeare (1856-1914) began formal training at the Birmingham School of Art in 1877 and he proceeded to London, Paris and Belgium, studying with Charles Verlat in Antwerp in the process. He was a founding member of the Birmingham Art Circle and regularly exhibited there and at the Royal Academy in London, at the Royal Institute of Painters in Oils, the Royal Society of British Artists and the Birmingham Museums Trust. His self-portrait is in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
measurements
Height:
91 cm
Width:
71 cm
Framed Height 117cm x Width 91cm
declaration
Wick Antiques Ltd has clarified that the Fine Genre Oil Painting by William Arthur Breakspeare Depicting the Fictional (LA485110) is genuinely of the period declared with the date/period of manufacture being 1883
location
This Fine Genre Oil Painting by William Arthur Breakspeare Depicting the Fictional is located in Hampshire, United Kingdom

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