Portrait of a Gentlemen Oil Painting by Arthur Spooner

A fine oil on canvas portrait of a gentleman by the highly regarded artist Arthur Spooner 1873-1962. The large canvas shows the figure seated in a typical half-length portrait pose against a cloth background. The work is almost certainly a commissioned piece and an official portrait, though the sitter is sadly not named. The painting is beautifully created with a wonderful use of colour and layers, broad confident brushwork and a great eye to character. The work is in excellent condition having been sympathetically cleaned. The gilt frame is the original and typical for this artist’s work with a bronzed gold finish and only minor repairs. The piece is signed to the lower right and dated 1942. Arthur Spooner (1873–1962) was a British Impressionist painter from Nottingham, England. Spooner was born in Nottingham and trained at the Nottingham School of Art (now part of Nottingham Trent University) in the late 19th century. He later taught landscape and figurative painting there in the early 20th century. Spooner was a member of the Nottingham Society of Artists and its President from 1946 till his death at which point Arthur Seago was elected, his contemporaries included Harold and Dame Laura Knight. His most famous work is The Goose Fair, Nottingham which he painted in 1926 it sold for over £200,000 in 2004 and is now displayed in Nottingham Castle. His work is varied and enormously popular, he was a commercial artist and a prolific portrait painter of the great and good of the area however his landscapes, nudes and city scenes were also highly desirable and he received notable commissions including works for the Duke of Portland. He exhibited locally and nationally at the Royal Academy and Royal Society of British Artists where he was also elected a member. This work is an excellent example of his portraiture and a great decorative period piece.