Edith Scannell Sonny' Charles Jeffreys Allen as a Boy

An original 1908 pastel drawing, Edith Scannell, 'Sonny' Charles Jeffreys Allen as a Boy.

A charming Edwardian portrait of a three-year-old boy, Charles Jeffreys Allen (1905–1937), nicknamed 'Sonny'. Particularly sweet is the boy's large brown eyes and earnest expression, as well as his smart Edwardian clothing with distinctive large collar.

Charles Jeffreys Allen was son of Jeffrey Philip Thomas Allen (1867–1917) of Lyngford House, Somerset. Jeffrey Philip Thomas Allen served as Captain in the West Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry. Charles went on to be educated at Horris Hill and Bradfield College. He lived at Woodlands, Taunton, and died aged just thirty-two at Malpica, Castello Branco, Portugal.

English artist Edith Maud Susanna Scannell (1852–1940) is known for her paintings of children, which it is said she painted 'con amore'. Her treatment of her subjects is particularly celebrated for its charming freshness and naivety. Scannell lived and had her studio in West Kensington, London. She studied for two years under M. Jacquand in Paris, in Florence, Rome and Pisa, under Bellucci, Bompiani and Lanfredini, and for a short time at the Slade School of Art in London.

Scannell exhibited widely in London, including at the Royal Academy, as well as elsewhere in England (at the Society of Women Artists and the Liverpool Autumn Exhibitions, amongst others), in Italy and in Belgium.

Edith Scannell found much work as both illustrator for The Art Amateur magazine, and also as an illustrator of children's books in England and the USA.

In graphite with pastel on buff-coloured paper.

Presented in its original gilt oval frame, with framers' label on the reverse: Chs. D. Soar & Son, Carvers & Gilders, 1 Launceston Place, Victoria Grove, Kensington.

Frame size: 33 x 28cm. Image: 28 x 23cm.