Rene Clarot (Belgian, 1882-1972)

Oil on canvas, signed: “Clarot R” and dated: “1907”.

A post-impressionist painter of marines and landscapes, Clarot worked in oils, watercolors and pastels. He was a student at the Academy of Brussels from 1896-1905. Upon completion of his studies, he traveled frequently to France and Germany. He eventually became well known for his numerous paintings of the ports of Brittany.

He exhibited extensively and was considered a member of the “L’essor” circle. In 1967, the gallery l’Escalier in Brussels devoted an exhibit to a retrospective of his work.

Clarot is listed in in Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs by Bénézit.

Painting size: 12” x 23.75”
Frame Size: 17” x 28.75”

Young Boy With Doll and Clay Pipe

Oil on board, signed lower left and dated "1872"

Painting Size: 10.5” x 8.25”
Frame Size: 15.5 ” x 13.25”

Mrs. Cloud was a painter of domestic genre scenes and is recorded as having exhibited at the Royal Academy, Suffolk Street and other galleries in England. A title of one of her paintings was “The Connemara Postman”. Little seems to be known of her painting career, but she wrote several articles for “Harper’s New Monthly Magazine” (Harper & Brothers, NY) which are all about her travels as a single woman in the 1870’s and 80‘s in Ireland. Her charming pen drawings illustrate rural life and scenes in Ireland for each article. Titles include: “A Lone Woman in Ireland”(1873), "The Connemara Hills" (1879), “An Irish Fishing Village” (1880) and “Ireland - The Arran Islands” (1881)

Sources:
Graves, Algernon, "Dictionary of Artists in the Principal London Exhibitions from 1760-1893"
Wood, Christopher. "Dictionary of British Art. Vol. IV, Victorian Painters"
"Harper’s New Monthly Magazine"

Japanese Landscape with Figures

Oil on canvas board, signed.

Painting size: 12” x 14”
Frame size: 17” x 19”

"Helen Wells Seymour (1878-1937) was educated in the Friends School in Washington, D. C. and she took special courses for two years in Columbia University and in the Doshisha Women's College, Kyoto, Japan. She spent several years of her life in Japan and China, was a collector of textiles and Japanese wall paintings, received diplomas in several Japanese arts, on which she lectured as a voluntary service, in the Women's College, Kyoto. She was a member of the Society of Women Geographers, of the Japan Society, the Society for Japanese Studies, and the Washington Club. She was a gifted painter of Japanese subjects and exhibited her work both in Japan and the United States. She left a rare and valuable collection of textiles, both Japanese and Chinese, and some fine wall paintings."
-David Lines Jacobus, "A History of the Seymour Family" (p. 40)

Seymour exhibited at the Society of Independent Artists in 1918. She also had an affiliation with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts as reported in Mallett, "Index of Artists Supplement", which also identified her as having a Washington, DC address. Seymour is listed in Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art" and Marlor, "The Society of Independent Artists".

Bay Horse in a Landscape with a Castle in the Distance

Oil on canvas, signed lower right and retaining a paper label on reverse of stretcher from: “Findlay, Carver & Gilder, Glasgow”.

Painting size: 24” x 30”
Frame size: 32” x 37.25”

A painter of equestrian subjects, including hunting and steeplechasing scenes, Mitchell lived in Leamington, Warwickshire and most of his hunt scenes depict incidents in this county. He is also recorded as living in London in 1832 when he exhibited a painting at the Royal Academy. Mitchell exhibited one portrait at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1835. Additionally, Mitchell painted two horse and rider portraits that were engraved by the Hunts. Both engravings were later included in Moore’s "Celebrated Winners" series, hand colored engravings that commemorated many famous horses. Two prints made of Mitchell’s paintings were part of the Paul Mellon collection and are illustrated in Dudley Snelgrove’s "British Sporting and Animal Prints 1658-1874 in the Paul Mellon Collection" (1978)

Sources:
Mitchell, Sally, "The Dictionary of Equestrian Artists"
Wingfield, Mary Anne, "A Dictionary of Sporting Artists, 1650-1990"

James John Hill (British, 1811-1882)

Oil on canvas, signed and dated: “(18__)” and retainging its original gilt wood and gesso frame.

Painting size: 12” x 10”
Frame size: 32” x 42”

James Curnock (British, 1812-1870)

Oil on canvas, signed.

A resident of Bristol, Curnock was best known for his portraits and figure subjects. He exhibited at both the Royal Academy and the Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street. His work is held in the permanent collection of the Bristol Art Gallery.

Curnock is listed in the Dictionary of British Artists, Vol. IV, Victorian Painters by Wood.

Painting size: 19” x 24”
Frame size: 25” x 31”

“On the qui vive” (The Smuggler)

Oil on canvas , titled, signed and dated on the reverse

"QUI VIVE" (A French phrase meaning long live who? (a sentry’s challenge), used to mean a state of alertness or watchfulness.)

Painting: 30" x 25"
Frame: 36.5" x 31.5"

One of the best-known painters working in north-east England during the early nineteenth century Henry Perlee Parker specialized in pictures of marine subjects and smugglers and came to be known as "Smuggler" Parker. He was a leading artist in Newcastle in the 1820s and 1830s, a member of the Northumberland Institution, and a co-founder (with T.M. Richardson) of the ill-fated Northern Academy of Arts. He died penniless in Shepherd's Bush in 1873. There was an exhibition of his work at the Laing Art Gallery, 1969-1970.

See Wiikpedia entry for a more complete biography

Squally Day off the Coast with Lighthouse and Unloading the Fishing Boats

Oils-on-canvas, one signed lower left

Painting Size: 10"� x 14"
Frame Size: 16.5" x 20.5"

Born in Cork, Calvert first exhibited at the Dublin Society of Artists and the Hibernian Society in 1815. Upon moving to London in the 1820's, Calvert was became known as a painter of shipping and coastal scenes as well as a topographical watercolorist and engraver. Calvert exhibited at the British Institution and Society of British Artists from 1827-1844. In 1830 he published "Picturesque Views of Staffordshire and Shropshire", and he also worked for the "Archaeological Journal". His works are held by the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Maritime Museum (Greenwich), and the Walker Art Gallery (Liverpool).

Sources:
Archibald, E.H.H. "Dictionary of Sea Painters"
Wood, Christopher. "Dictionary of British Art. Vol. IV, Victorian Painters"
Graves, Algernon, "Dictionary of Artists in the Principal London Exhibitions from 1760-1893"

Ernest Bosch (German, 1834-1917)

Oil on canvas, signed lower left (behind frame).

Bosch was a pupil at the Academy of Dusseldorf under the instruction of K. Solm, T. Hildebrandt and Schadow. He was best known for his portrait and genre paintings. His genre paintings frequently included animals. Later in his career, he turned his focus more toward portraits of women. In addition to painting, Bosch was a skilled illustrator, etcher and lithographer. His works are held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Bremer and Museum of Hanover.

Bosch is listed in "Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs" by Bénézit and in "Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zu Gegenwart" by Thieme/Becker.

Painting size: 22” x 25”
Frame size: 28.25” x 31.25”

Schooner off the Atlantic Coast

Watercolor on paper, signed lower left and dated “1896”

Sight Size:13" x 26"
Frame Size: 23.25" x 36"

Lewis was born and died and Philadelphia where he studied with Paul Weber from about 1850-55. According to Peter Falk ("Who Was Who in American Art"), “he was one of the most popular landscape painters of Philadelphia during the late 19th century. His early works were chiefly scenes of the Lehigh, Susquehana, and Wissihickon Rivers of Pennsylvania, and were in great demand. Before 1860 he also exhibited landscapes of New York and New England and even some Cuban scenes. By the mid 1870’s he turned increasingly to shoreline views with yachting scenes, painting prolifically in watercolor from Cape May, NJ to Narragansett, RI. Wealthy and admired, he entertained in a grand style in his opulent Philadelphia home surrounded by an extensive collection of antique furniture, china and decorative arts.”

Oil on canvas, signed lower left and entitled on reverse.
Painting size: 24” x 18”
Frame size: 31” x 25”

American painter C. Myron Clark specialized in marine subjects and, like so many other artists, was drawn to Venice with its ongoing atmospheric shifts in the sky and sea. This work shows the church of Santa Maria della Salute, one of the city’s landmarks, at the end of the day. Clark captures the effects of the mellowing light which emphasizes the architectural details of the Baroque church and gives the surrounding buildings a soft, rosy glow. The dappled reflection of the buildings in the water animate the painting’s surface, creating a sense of energy as gondoliers navigate their small boats along the Grand Canal.
Santa Maria della Salute was built in the 17th century by the Venetians to thank God for the cessation of the plague that killed almost a third of the city’s population in 1630. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary as a restorer of health (salute) to the sick, the church is one of Venice’s most readily identifiable monuments. Clark’s rendering is quietly reassuring.
C. Myron Clark’s work is represented in the collections of the Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. He is listed in "Who Was Who in American Art" (Falk, 1999)

Chestnut Hunter in a Stable

Oil on canvas, signed and dated: “1877”.

There is no known exhibition record of Harrowing’s work and little is known of his background other than that he is noted for his portraits of horses and dogs, particularly beagles, hunters, brood mares and coach horses. He is also known to have painted still lifes of game as well as various other farm animals. He is listed in The Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists by Sally Mitchell and The Dictionary of Sporting Artists by Mary Ann Wingfield

Painting size: 25” x 30”
Frame size: 30.25” x 35.25”

Charles Lanman (American, 1819-1895)

Oil on paper laid-down, signed.

Lanman is listed in The Artists of Washington, DC 1796-1996 by McMahan.

Painting size: 11” x 15”
Frame size: 16” x 20”

Young Busker With His Monkey

Oil-on-canvas, signed lower right

Painting Size: 24.5” x 20”
Frame Size: 35 ” x 30.25”

Thomsen was an artist adept at painting many different subjects: landscapes, portraits, genre scenes, mythological subjects and religious scenes. He was a student at l’Académie des Beaux-Arts in Copenhagen. He painted numerous altar pieces for the churches of Copenhagen as well as the country churches of surrounding area. This sensitive painting depicts a young street musician with his hurdy-gurdy slung over his back, his monkey tucked under his arm and his outstretched hand with his hat ready to receive coins.

Source:
Benezit, E. Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs