Fieldcrest Presents
Decorative Artwork
Shakespeare’s Heroes and Heroines
Raphael Tuck and Sons dominated the die-cut chromolithograph market in Britain during the late 19th century. Examples of this original, complex and beautiful form of art, which captured the multiple hues of rich oil-based colors, are very scarce due to the “Battle of Britain” air raid, which destroyed the Raphael Tuck House in London on 29 December, 1940.
These 18 prints of the original chromolithographs of Shakespeare’s Heroes and Heroines are mounted in a hand-cut mat of acid-free paper in walnut frames 13¼” by 17¼,” including a framed signed dedication by Shakespearean Actor Henry Irving on Lyceum Theatre stationery and dated 10 June, 1891. We will be happy to email you a folio presentation of the entire collection, which depicts Shakespeare’s characters in scenes from The Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, The Winter’s Tale, Othello, and The Merchant of Venice.
American Folk Art
Santa Barbara Mission, early 20th century oil on canvas, is signed and attributed to English-born California painter and muralist, Frederick Alexander Pawla (1876-1964). He studied art in Europe and was active in New York before moving to Santa Barbara and is known for his landscape interpretations. Dimensions including frame are 24” by 18.”
This late 19th century pastel on artist board of Mt. Shasta is not signed. Could this painting be by a woman artist who was not allowed to sign her work, was not allowed to take brush and oil paint to a canvas and was patronized with words of “what a nice little picture you have drawn!”?
Framed under glass with a frame-space to keep the pastel away from the glass, we can assume the lady acquired the frame as a cast-off from a serious male artist.
There were, of course, recognized California women artists in this period whose husbands encouraged their creative expression, i. e. Thaddeus and Ludmilla Welch. Dimensions including frame are 24” x 14.”
These two Grandma Moses-style paintings are signed by 80-year-old folk artist Thackeray Graham of Valhalla, South Carolina. The framed “Artist’s Home Place” is oil on board, 18½” by 15,” and “Spring 1910” is oil on canvas, 23” by 19½.”
Vanity Fair Cartoons
In Vanity Fair, the highlight of each weekly issue (1869-1914) was a caricature in color of a well-known personage. At first these comic portraits were a popular novelty, then they became an English institution. They constitute a unique visual record of the Victorian and Edwardian era. Each print in mounted in a hand-cut mat and accompanied by a biography. Framed, each measures 14½” by 19½.”
Rt. Hon. Lord John Jr. M.P.,
STATESMEN, No. 36
Nov. 20, 1869, issue 55
“Let arts and commerce, laws and learning die, but leave us still our old nobility”
Signed APE
“The Artist’s Home Place”
Mr. William Hepworth,
MEN OF THE DAY, No. 45
April 27, 1872, issue 182
“He discovered New America and Free Russia.”
Unsigned
Mr. George, M. P.
STATESMEN No. 117
July 13, 1872, issue 193
“A Yorkshire Solicitor”
Unsigned
“Spring 1910”
A California Drawing
The Monterey Custom House is a drawing signed by Lloyd Dundas Whiffin, who was born in India of English parents in 1885. In 1912 he emigrated to California, where he met his wife and painted in Yosemite. In 1927 the couple moved to the Monterey Peninsula and established an import shop in Carmel. They later lived in Alameda where he died in 1953. Dimensions of this framed under glass artwork are 17¼” by 14¼.”
A California Etching
Olvera Street, labeled by the artist as A Bit of Old Mexico in Los Angeles, was etched by Harold John Brothers, who was born in Ramsgate, England in 1888. In 1923 he emigrated to San Francisco. For a short time he lived in Los Angeles where he etched this scene of Olvera Street. Dimensions of this framed under glass artwork are 12½” by 9½.”
Prints of American Etchings
The Court Jester is an etching by American artist William Merritt Chase (1849-1919). This print of the original etching is on India paper, copy number 32 of 40, from The Collection of American Etchings published by Estes and Lauriat, Boston, 1886. Dimensions of this print framed under glass are 6½” by 4½.”
We will be happy to email you a folio presentation of the entire collection of nine prints, which depict the original etchings Pond at Cernay-La-Ville by Mrs. Elisa Greatorex, A Young Republican by John James Mitchell, The Sea Serpent by S. A. Schoff, Coal Pockets at New Bedford by R. Swain Gifford, Old Mill At Valley Stream by Charles H. Miller, Portrait of Sir Gilbert Scott by Anna Lea Merritt, The Old Manse by Edmund Harry Garrett, and Old Mill-Pond At Winsor by Albert F. Bellows.
