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ID #SA892087
FOR SALE
£2,250
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Sonia Mervyn. "A Leisured Hour". Portrait Oil Painting.
For sale by William Greenwood Fine Art
for sale €2,633     $2,858
£2,250

William Greenwood Fine Art

Sellingantiques Verified Since Oct 2012
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Id #SA892087
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Sonia Mervyn. "A Leisured Hour". Portrait Oil Painting.

1920 - 1940
Description

Artist: Sonia Mervyn. ARA, PS, SWA. (1893-1977)

Title: "A Leisured Hour".

Signed. Circa 1930.

Provenance: Exibited: The Chenil Galleries, Kings Road, S.W.3. No;3. With Title and her name and address: 42, Keyhaven Road, Milford on Sea, nr. Lymington, Hants.

Oil on canvas.

Size: 30"x 20". Framed size: 36"x 26".

Now cleaned and framed.

In very good ready to hang condition. Free UK delivery. Trade enquiries welcome.

For more info please contact us at:

Tel: 01677 424830

Mob: 07885 175279

Email: williamgreenwoodfineart@gmail.com

Painter and teacher, notable for portraits. She won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music but after getting her degree decided to pursue art, winning a scholarship to the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Art where she trained under Ralph Middleton Todd. During the early years of World War II she worked on the land and was then invited to teach at Maidstone Art School, 1943–5. After the war she started private classes and completed many commissions throughout Britain. Her students included many famous people, such as the actor Terry-Thomas and the pianist Eileen Joyce. Exhibited at all the leading London galleries, including Beaux Arts and Leicester Galleries, RA, NEAC and had pictures toured by AEB and Arts Council. Her work drew admiring letters from Sir Alfred Munnings, Sir Stanley Spencer, Dame Ethel Walker, Philip Connard and other painters.

Date of Manufacture

William Greenwood Fine Art has dated this Vintage Portrait Oil Painting to the 1930s.

Independent Date Guide ID 07244609
Dealer's Item Date1930s
Sellingantiques Date1930s
Sellingantiques agingItem 80-100 years old
ResultsDates match
Why Sellingantiques dated this piece to THE 1930s:
Chenil Galleries exhibition label on the reverse: in keeping with mid-twentieth-century London showing.
Signed lower right in block capitals: Sonia Mervyn.
Sitter's waved hairstyle: fashionable styling of the 1930s.
Iron tacks fixing the canvas to the stretcher: mid-twentieth-century preparation.
Even darkening across the reverse canvas: decades of undisturbed age.

This Independent Date Guide was compiled by Sellingantiques using its own proprietary system. It works only from the photographs shown on this page and is never told the date the dealer has declared. It is a guide, not a guarantee of age, and occasional errors can occur.

Physical Dimensions
Height
91.5cm (36.02")
Width
66cm (25.98")
Depth
8cm (3.15")
Reference Numbers
Sellingantiques Reference
SA892087
Dealers Internal Reference
WGB
Description
Artist: Sonia Mervyn. ARA, PS, SWA. (1893-1977)

Title: "A Leisured Hour".

Signed. Circa 1930.

Provenance: Exibited: The Chenil Galleries, Kings Road, S.W.3. No;3. With Title and her name and address: 42, Keyhaven Road, Milford on Sea, nr. Lymington, Hants.

fig 1. A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting.
fig 1. Sonia Mervyn. "A Leisured Hour". Portrait Oil Painting.

Oil on canvas.

Size: 30"x 20". Framed size: 36"x 26".

Now cleaned and framed.

In very good ready to hang condition. Free UK delivery. Trade enquiries welcome.

For more info please contact us at:

Tel: 01677 424830

fig 2. A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting.
fig 2. Sonia Mervyn. "A Leisured Hour". Portrait Oil Painting.

Mob: 07885 175279

Email: williamgreenwoodfineart@gmail.com

Painter and teacher, notable for portraits. She won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music but after getting her degree decided to pursue art, winning a scholarship to the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Art where she trained under Ralph Middleton Todd.

“
During the early years of World War II she worked on the land and was then invited to teach at Maidstone Art School, 1943–5.
William Greenwood Fine Art

After the war she started private classes and completed many commissions throughout Britain. Her students included many famous people, such as the actor Terry-Thomas and the pianist Eileen Joyce. Exhibited at all the leading London galleries, including Beaux Arts and Leicester Galleries, RA, NEAC and had pictures toured by AEB and Arts Council. Her work drew admiring letters from Sir Alfred Munnings, Sir Stanley Spencer, Dame Ethel Walker, Philip Connard and other painters.

Date of Manufacture

William Greenwood Fine Art has dated this Vintage Portrait Oil Painting to the 1930s.

Independent Date Report ID 07244609
Dealer's Item Date1930s
Sellingantiques dating1930s
Sellingantiques agingItem 80-100 years old
ResultsDates match
Why Sellingantiques dated this piece to the 1930s:
Chenil Galleries exhibition label on the reverse: in keeping with mid-twentieth-century London showing.
Signed lower right in block capitals: Sonia Mervyn.
Sitter's waved hairstyle: fashionable styling of the 1930s.
Iron tacks fixing the canvas to the stretcher: mid-twentieth-century preparation.
Even darkening across the reverse canvas: decades of undisturbed age.

This is an independent date report produced by Sellingantiques using its own proprietary system. The process uses the photographs shown on this page. The system is never told the date the dealer has declared. This report shows that the two dates corroborate.

Height
91.5cm (36.02")
Width
66cm (25.98")
Depth
8cm (3.15")
Reference Numbers
Sellingantiques Ref
SA892087
Dealers Internal Ref
WGB
William Greenwood Fine Art
Sellingantiques verified Since Oct 2012
Dealer Profile

You can view the stock and full dealer information on the William Greenwood Fine Art Profile Page

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A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting.
1 / 9
Archive I A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting.

Sonia Mervyn. "A Leisured Hour". Portrait Oil Painting.

Archive II A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting. View II
Archive III A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting. View III
Archive IV A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting. View IV
Archive V A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting. View V
Archive VI A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting. View VI
Archive VII A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting. View VII
Archive VIII A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting. View VIII
Archive IX A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting. View IX
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William Greenwood Fine Art
Telephone 01677 424 830 or 07885 175279
Location
Oakdene
Church Wynd
Burneston
Bedale
DL8 2JE
United Kingdom
Dealer Profile Page sellingantiques.co.uk/williamgreenwoodfineart
Verified Since Oct 2012
Items For Sale 220
Items Sold 518
William Greenwood Fine Art
Verified Since Oct 2012
View Dealer Info
Location: Oakdene, Church Wynd, Burneston, Bedale, DL8 2JE, United Kingdom
Profile: sellingantiques.co.uk/williamgreenwoodfineart
Verified
Oct 2012
For Sale
220
Sold
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A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting.
Sonia Mervyn. "A Leisured Hour". Portrait oil painting.
Ref: SA892087
A mid-twentieth-century oil painting on canvas depicting a seated woman in profile wearing a dark dress and white lace shawl within an interior setting.
Detail View 1
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Archival Detail

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Cataloguer’s note

Written by Sellingantiques from the dealer’s photographs and listing
  • ObjectPaintings
  • Period1920 - 1940
  • StyleMid-Century Realism
  • MaterialOil, Canvas
  • ColourDark Brown
  • MotifsSeated figure, Lace shawl, Profile pose, Feather fan
  • SizeH 91.5 cm (36 in) x W 66 cm (26 in) x D 8 cm (3 in)

This oil painting on canvas by Sonia Mervyn dates from 1930 and belongs to the Mid-Century Realism style. The artwork depicts a seated woman in profile wearing a dark brown dress with a white lace shawl, holding a feather fan inside an interior setting. It includes a framed profile with visible dark timber moulding, white lace texture, and dark paint strokes. The framed piece measures 91.5 cm high, 66 cm wide, and 8 cm deep. Suitable for placement above a sideboard in an English country house interior, this artwork brings period character to a dining room, living room, or hallway. The cleaned canvas surface presents a ready-to-hang condition for domestic display, fitting traditional and mid-century decor schemes with ease. Collectors of British portraiture will find it a representative example of the artist's output during the interwar period.

FAQs

Mid-twentieth-century British portraiture frequently combined figurative realism with painterly impressionism, focusing on domestic interiors, tonal subtlety, and naturalistic light to capture quiet moment studies.

Traditional oil paintings are executed using ground pigments bound in linseed oil, applied onto stretched linen or cotton canvas, or solid wooden panels prepared with a gesso primer.

Authentic oil paintings exhibit natural age craquelure, distinct brushwork texture, artist signatures, period framing, and expected surface oxidisation on the reverse substrate.

Integrate traditional portraits into contemporary rooms by creating a layered gallery wall or positioning a single framed work above a modern sideboard to provide historical contrast.

Display oil paintings away from direct sunlight and heat sources to prevent cracking, maintain balanced ambient humidity, and clean the surface gently using a soft, dry microfibre brush.
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