Helen Wells Seymour
(American, 19th/20th century)

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".

Ruth Killick Morley  (American, b.1888)

Standing Nude

A Bronze Figure, signed

Height: 16.5”

Born in England in 1888, Morley settled in New York and was a sculptor, craftsperson and teacher. She was a member of the Allied Artists of America and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She is listed in Falk, Who Was Who in American Art.

William F. Walter (American, 1904-1977)

Bridge in Washington

Oil on canvas, signed.

Painting size: 20” x 24” Frame size: 27.75” x 31.5”

A Washington, DC native, Walter was a respected designer, cartoonist, teacher and painter during his lifetime. After completing his studies at the Corcoran School of Art, he continued his training under the instruction of Charles Hawthorne, W. Lester Stevens, Richard Meryman and B. Baker.

Walter was member of the Society of Washington Artists; Landscape Club, Washington, DC; Washington Art Club; American Polar Society and Southern States Art League. His work was shown in numerous venues including: Harvard University, University of Iowa, Washington Art Club and various museum in the East and South. He also held a solo exhibit in New York City. He was awarded prizes for his work by the Landscape Club and US National Museum.

In addition to his busy painting and exhibition schedule, he completed a series of Arctic paintings for the Navy in 1946 and taught at the Abbott School of Art in Washington, DC from 1951-1954.

** For other artwork by artists from Maryland, Virginia or Washington DC, type “local” into the search box.

Fishing Boats Along a Canal

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”

Chiesa Santa Maria Della Salute

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)

Autumn River Landscape with Ducks

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”

Pastoral Landscape with a Young Girl and Her Dog

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”

Young Girl at the Spring

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”

Walter Harrowing (British, worked 1865-1904)

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”

Lambert Alexandre Léonard (French, 1831-1877)

Partridge with Worm

Height: 10.5”
Width: 6.5”

A lifelong Parisian, Léonard studied under Jacquot, Rouillard and Barye specializing in Animalier sculpture. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1851-1873. In addition to working in bronze, Leonard created works in plaster, wax and wax with a silver finish.

Leonard is listed in Dictionary of Western Sculptors in Bronze by Mackay and Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs by Bénézit.

J.A. Mitchell (British, active 1826-1832)

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"

Robert M. Decker (American, 1847-1921)

Extensive Woodland Landscape with Stream

Oil on canvas, signed.

Painting size: 20.25” x 26”
Frame size: 31.25” x 47.25”

Decker received his art training from R. Swain Gifford. His first important recognition occurred when he was thirty-six when the the National Academy of Design exhibited one of his paintings. That same year, the Brooklyn Art Association also exhibited one of his works. He went on to become a well known exhibitor in Brooklyn and exhibited at the National Academy of Design from 1883 to 1898 . He was also a professionally successful artist during his life with a record of sales to numerous affluent patrons. He was a member of the Brooklyn Art Club and Society of Brooklyn Artists.

Decker is listed in Who Was Who in American Art by Falk.

Mrs. J. Lizzie Cloud (British, flourished 1873-1880)

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"

August Carl Vilhelm Thomsen (Danish 1813-1886)

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

Wilhelm Engelhard (German, 1813-1902)

"Lorelei" a Bronzed Spelter Sculpture

Signed and Dated in the Cast: "1852"

Height: 20"

Wilhelm Englehard trained as a sculptor first in Paris and then in London, In 1839 he became a pupil of Thorwaldsen in Copenhagen and in 1841 a pupil of Schwanthaler in Munich.

Englehard is known for his sculptures of mythological groups, single figures and genre pieces, most often in limestone. Some of his works are the statues of “Odin,” “Thor,” and the “Valkyries.” In 1851 he began on his masterwork, the “Edda Frieze” which depicts scenes from Norse mythology. He produced contour drawings of the frieze for the Great Exhibition in London of that year which helped him to win some acclaim. In 1855 he traveled to Rome where he executed several life-size marble statues including a “Lorelei.” At the request of King George V of Hanover, Englehard sculpted his Edda Frieze in plaster in the entry hall of the Marienburg Palace. It was 112 feet long and 3 feet high.

Englehard became a member of the Hanover Artist Association in 1850 and in 1869 he became a professor at the Polytechnic School in Hanover.

Sources:
Hermanowski, Paul, “Die Deutsche Götterlehre und ihre Verwertung in Kunst und Dichtung”
Thieme-Becker, ed. “Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler vonder Antike bis zu Gegenwart”

Edmond Darch Lewis (American, 1835-1910)

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.”

Impressive large-scale Black Forest carved armchair in walnut with all over carved decoration of bark, branches, leaves and berries. Swiss. Circa 1870-1880. * Provenance: Anniee McCarthy, Newport, RI and NYC (label). Minor loss to tips of leaves on crestrail, caned seat was once over upholstered.

*See “History of Black Forest Furniture”

Height: 39.5”
Width: 25”
Depth: 24”

Henry Perlee Parker (1795-1873)

“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