From the Blog

News, stories and musings from the eclectic world of S&W.

Fruits of Labour

Fruits of Labour

The delectable still lifes of the celebrated Victorian painter of flowers, nests and fruit, George Clare
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Harriet' at Cherbourg

'Harriet' at Cherbourg

New this week, a handsome marine work in ink and wash, heightened with white— a fine example by esteemed maritime painter Nicholas Matthew Condy (1818–1851) and an interesting subject in the history of competitive yachting
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Italian Eritrea

Italian Eritrea

Interesting pictures depicting 1940s Eritrea by Italian artist Giovanni Romagnoli (1893–1976)
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Alice Squire RI (1840–1936)

Alice Squire RI (1840–1936)

Working at a time when women could not gain the same recognition as men, Alice Squire RI (1840–1936) nevertheless exhibited widely, including at the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Society of British Artists and Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

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Grand Hotel des Etrangers

Grand Hotel des Etrangers

The prospect of ruin seems to permeate the very fabric of the buildings of Italy, the notion of ancientness somehow embedded in the country's architecture
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On the Grand Canal, Venice

On the Grand Canal, Venice

Keeping to a Grand Tour theme, newly listed this week is this sumptuous veduta oil showing an iconic view on the Grand Canal in Venice
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A very Grand Tour!

A very Grand Tour!

We were thrilled to have our artwork featured recently in the BBC's Rob and Rylan's Grand Tour! Episode 2, where the pair visit Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance, and get to ascend the magnificent Duomo—depicted in an exemplary manner in our Neapolital School veduta
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A Beau Scholar

A Beau Scholar

This fine portrait miniature of a dashing young Oxford scholar bears a close resemblance to the Regency arbiter of fashion Beau Brummell, who attended Oxford
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Making Hay on the Thames

Making Hay on the Thames

Thames barges carrying stacked hay were once a common site on the Thames, transporting hay from the farms of Suffolk, Essex and Kent to London, where it was required for the capital's thousands of horses
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Teme Valley & River Severn

Teme Valley & River Severn

We have enjoyed cataloguing this unsual group of gouaches recently
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Scottish Character

Scottish Character

Henry Wright Kerr RSA RSW (1857–1936) was a fine recorder of Scottish character and arguably Scotland's most famous painter of portraits and genre scenes in watercolour
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Crittall's Windows

Crittall's Windows

From our new collection of Etching Revival prints, this striking modernist landscape with an unusual story
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Where the crows gather

Where the crows gather

This miniature jewel of a painting by Sarah Louisa Kilpack (1839–1909) shows the rocky coast at La Corbière in southwest Jersey
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Glorious Interwar Design

Glorious Interwar Design

Glorious new 1930s pattern designs by the talented Jean Mary Ogilvie (1920–1997)
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A Dose of Zen

A Dose of Zen

Calming vibes from our new Japanese kenpon chakushoku (handpainted on silk), dating from towards the end of the Meiji period
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Royal Doulton: 'true sphere of woman is the family and household'

Royal Doulton: 'true sphere of woman is the family and household'

This week we have had the pleasure of discovering the work of the Lewis sisters, Isabel and Florence, who were leading artists for Royal Doulton in the 1880s
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A Very Victorian Spectacle

A Very Victorian Spectacle

This vivid little Neapolitan School gouache shows the 1839 eruption of Vesuvius from a slightly unsual viewpoint—part-way up the mountainside rather than the more typical (and more elegant) vantage point of across the waters of the Bay of Naples
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Edith Scannell (1852–1940): Painter of Children

Edith Scannell (1852–1940): Painter of Children

A charming Edwardian portrait of three-year-old Charles Jeffreys Allen (1905–1937) by artist Edith Scannell (1852–1940)
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A High Ranking Low Rank Badge

A High Ranking Low Rank Badge

Rather fallen in love with the exquisite embroidery on this Qing Dynasty rank badge
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Dahlias

Dahlias

These colourful Dahlias, celebrated and prized for their long blooming period—carrying on until the autumn frosts—bring welcome cheer this week, as the rain in the UK seems to know no end
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Foraging for Clues

Foraging for Clues

We have been down a vertitable rabbit hole this week—not in honour of a certain forthcoming bunny festival, but because we have entered the chaotic subterranean world of mycology
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Spring amongst the Magnolia Blossom

Spring amongst the Magnolia Blossom

For the blossoming of Spring this week, this exuberant gouache by sought-after illustrator Kay Nixon (1894–1988)
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The Power of a Framing Label

The Power of a Framing Label

Delving below the surface this week, we've had interesting conversations about when art belies biography, as was the case, by all accounts, for tenacious and eccentric Channel Islands artist Ethel Sophia Cheeswright (1874–1977)
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1830s Lisbon: A Tale of the Tagus

1830s Lisbon: A Tale of the Tagus

Fascinating cataloguing an intriguing group of early 19th-century views in Portugal this week, and thinking about the difficulty in verifying views in a time before photography and when the documentary evidence is scant
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Forgotten Woman of Wakefield

Forgotten Woman of Wakefield

New this week, we have a wonderful evocation of Victorian Wakefield by the celebrated watercolourist Louisa Fennell (1847–1930)
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Great Minds Think Alike

Great Minds Think Alike

Also from our Victorian architect, Philip J
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A Stunning Seafront Arts & Crafts House Design

A Stunning Seafront Arts & Crafts House Design

From our new collection of pictures by talented late-Victorian architect Philip J
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Katherine Alice Jowett's Shanghai

Katherine Alice Jowett's Shanghai

Fascinating to learn about Katharine Jowett (1883–1972), one of only a few Western female artists who chose to live and work in Japan, Korea and northern China in the years between the two world wars
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R.J. Blesard's Old Masters

R.J. Blesard's Old Masters

From our new collection of drawings and watercolours after Old Masters by R.J. Blesard
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Picture of the Month: February 2024

Picture of the Month: February 2024

James Walker Tucker (1898–1972)
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Happy Valentine's

Happy Valentine's

From our beautiful Ethel M. Mallinson Collection...
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The Garbutt Hull Collection

The Garbutt Hull Collection

The artists in our new Garbutt Hull collection read like a who's who of early-19th-century Hull, only these pictures are by the women behind the men who were the city's shipbuilders & brokers, timber merchants & sawmill owners, wine merchants & brewers
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James Duffield Harding's Picturesque

James Duffield Harding's Picturesque

A lovely watercolour by James Duffield Harding OWS (1798–1863) exemplifying contemporary taste for the picturesque
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A Gorgeous Set Design

A Gorgeous Set Design

New this week, this gorgeous set design featuring elements of decorative Art Nouveau, Art Deco and mystical Symbolism
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Irish-Australian artist Tate Adams (1922–2018)

Irish-Australian artist Tate Adams (1922–2018)

Attributed to Irish-Australian artist Tate Adams (1922–2018), this striking symbolist work evoking Buddhist monks in saffron robes was possibly painted during Adams's time in Ceylon, whilst serving with the British Admiralty in 1943
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George John Cayley's Algiers

George John Cayley's Algiers

We have added interesting new pictures to our 19th-century Algiers collection by English eccentric and 'wayward philosopher' George John Cayley (1826–1878)
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A Piece of Natural History

A Piece of Natural History

Our new collection of 1830s watercolours—depicting flowers, leaves, butterflies and other insects—were exquisitely painted by Louisa Hare (1776–1853), who was married to Captain James Hare (1772–1826) of Whittern estate at Lyonshall in Herefordshire
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A Quirky Collage

A Quirky Collage

This early-Victorian drawing made us look twice this week—a quirky collaged image that combines hand-coloured engravings with layered paper and original watercolour
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Romanian Fairy Tales

Romanian Fairy Tales

Late Romantic narrative illustrative art was highly popular in the second half of the 19th century, particularly amongst women artists, but its study has been neglected
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Henry William Burgess' Wimpole St Interior

Henry William Burgess' Wimpole St Interior

We love (and covet) this elegant Wimpole Street interior by Henry William Burgess
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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Fin-de-siècle cartoons from Eduard T
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Picture of the Month: December 2023

Picture of the Month: December 2023

Our Picture of the Month for December is a triumph in aesthetic elegance by the distinguished ceramics designer and potter Gordon Mitchell Forsyth RI ARCA (1879–1952)
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A Victorian Christmas

A Victorian Christmas

With Christmas as we know it being largely a Victorian invention, the Victorian home—and even more so, the Victorian rectory—seems uniquely suited to this time of year
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Père Noël

Père Noël

Some of you may recognise the cherubic red-head in this vision of Yuletide bliss as the spirited putto from Gaston Cervelli's satirical cartoons, Fighting and Bawling Babies (swipe left!)
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Madeline Rachel Wells (1879-1959)

Madeline Rachel Wells (1879-1959)

Championing another female, today we have this captivating large watercolour by Madeline Rachel Wells RBA (1879–1959)
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