Westcoast Fine Art has dated this 19th Century Portrait Painting to the 19th Century.
Title: A Half-Length Portrait of a Young Girl Sewing
Period: Circa 1850-1880
Provenance: From a private London collection
Watercolour on board (see conservation notes within the condition report).
Inscribed to top right faintly in pencil 'Helen', the remaining words indecipherable. Indistinctly dated.
Overall size with the frame is 47cm x 35cm x 4cm and the painting is measured at 37cm x 25cm
Israëls was the leader of the Hague school of peasant genre painting, which flourished in the Netherlands between 1860 and 1900. He began his studies in Amsterdam and from 1845 to 1847 worked in Paris under the academic painters Horace Vernet and Paul Delaroche.
His earliest works were romantic historical paintings, but after staying at Zandvoort in 1855 he concentrated on peasant scenes - usually with fishermen - which recall works by his contemporaries in France, especially Millet and Daumier.
In 1870 Israëls moved from Amsterdam to The Hague; popular among both critics and artists (including the young Vincent van Gogh), he became the best-known member of the Hague School of painters, gaining an international reputation and exhibiting in Paris and London, as well as in Holland. He won the Grand Prix in both the 1889 and 1900 Expositions Universelles in Paris, was awarded the Cross of the Legion d’Honneur in 1867, and was later made a Commander.
Besides oils, Israëls worked in watercolours and was an etcher of the first rank. His later works in all media express a tragic sense of life and are generally treated in broad masses of light and shade. His painting style was influenced by Rembrandt’s later works, and, like Rembrandt, Israëls often painted the poor Jews of the Dutch ghettos (e.g., A Son of the Chosen People, 1889).
His work is in collections worldwide including the Mesdag collection in The Hague; the Van Gogh Museum, and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; the Dordrecht Gallery, South Holland; and the Aberdeen Art Gallery, the Ashmolean, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Glasgow museum, Museums Sheffield, and the National Gallery, London.
The present painting is typical of Israëls' work. It depicts a young (most likely Breton) girl sewing - a theme visited a number of times by Israëls'. Industrious women sitting sewing in the light from a window are a frequent subject in the work of Jozef Israëls. This work shows a young peasant girl in deep concentration in the act of either knitting or sewing. She holds a needle in one hand and a thread in the other as she attends to a piece of material clasped between both hands.
This painting is stylistically, technically, and compositionally comparable to the work of Jozef Israëls. It shows the same moody lighting, contrast between light and dark, and a muted palette dominated by greyish tints which are characteristic of Israëls' work from this period. The front-on depiction and the post of the subject is comparable to Israëls' "A peasant girl sewing', which was sold at Sotheby's in 2011.
Condition report: The painting has undergone conservation as it had faded and had some marks and tiny areas of paint loss- erosion. The painting has been retouched and treated with a sealant and anti - UV specialist coating which had resurrected the colours and tonality and will protect the painting from surface fading and discolouration and the appearance of the work is now closer in finish to an oil on paper painting without the need for glass. The original frame has been restored and is offered as a gift. See notes below regarding frames.
Westcoast Fine Art has dated this 19th Century Portrait Painting to the 19th Century.
Westcoast fine art ltd is a UK based dealer in fine classical works of art.
You can view the stock and full dealer information on the Westcoast Fine Art Profile Page
A Half-length Portrait of a Young Girl Sewing, Artist: Circle of Jozef Israëls (1824 - 1911)
