Collecting 101

1.

Background & Setting

Portraiture has historically been linked to royal patronage, with kings and queens commissioning these kinds of paintings for a number of reasons, from celebrating milestones like victories or weddings or having portable images of themselves to be carried and shown during courtships. Important examples of this are the portraits that Hans Holbein painted in the Tudor court in the 16th century and the work that Anthony van Dyck created in the court of Charles I in the 17th century. Van Dyck, in fact, would become the dominant influence in English portrait paintings for almost two centuries.

In the 18th century the field of portraiture in England was led by Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds. The socio-political landscape had also changed by then, and painters were starting to be commissioned not just by members of the royalty and the aristocracy but also by affluent professionals. This was a significant development, because towards the 19th century portraiture was becoming a looser genre, with artists less tied to the constraints of royal commissions and freer to take a wider range of subjects and approaches.

2.

Pre-Raphaelite Portraits

One of the most-loved styles of 19th century portraiture in England is the one created under the banner of the “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood”, whose most notable members were Sir John Everett Millais PRA; Sir Edward Coley-Burne Jones Bt; Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt.

This was a movement that stemmed from Romanticism, with which it shared an idealisation of nature and creativity, as well as a heightened sense of drama. In fact, Romanticism was not just a visual influence, but also a literary one: Pre-Raphaelites artists couldn’t get enough of the poetry of Lord Byron and Lord Tennyson, while Shakespeare was often referenced in paintings.

The movement can also be understood as a return to medieval and early Renaissance art, but with an aesthetic that was unique and original. The artists of the Brotherhood all shared a fascination with female beauty, which they found in specific features like ribbon-shaped lips, wide eyes, slim bodies and long cascading curls. They painted iconic portraits of their friends, lovers and muses such as Jane Morris and Lizzie Siddal, impersonating mythical and biblical heroines, for example Rossetti’s Proserpine (1874) and Burne-Jones’s Sidonia von Bork (1860).

3.

Rise of Realism

Meanwhile in France, Realism was the dominant trend. The movement flourished in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1848 and continued until the end of the 19th century, in parallel with the literary movement exemplified by the novels of Émile Zola, Honoré de Balzac and Gustave Flaubert. Realism sought to depict life in an objective, truthful manner and, in keeping with the democratic values that were gaining traction in the political life of the time, often chose anonymous workers in everyday situations as subjects.

The leader of the Realist movement in France was Gustave Courbet. Early in his career he rejected academic conventions and Romantic excesses, committing to paint only what he could glean from observed reality. Unafraid of making strong political statements, his first series of famous works were devoted to depicting peasants and workers in a grand scale traditionally reserved to religious or historical portraits. There’s also a number of famous self-portraits in his body of work, as well as famous female nudes such as Sleep and The Origin of the World (both 1866). One of his most iconic works though is The Artist’s Studio (1855), which depicts the artist at work, surrounded by a model and figures from the Parisian cultural scene like Charles Baudelaire.

Jean-Francois Millet, who painted the masterpiece The Gleaners (1857) was another key member of the Realism movement, where Charles Octave Blanchard also saw great potential but his unfortunate, early demise at the young age of 27 cut short a career that was only just beginning.

4.

The Professional Portrait

The “professional portrait” is a natural consequence of the socio-economic trends mentioned earlier: along with the Industrial Revolution and the instauration of democratic states came the rise of more affluent middle class (or “bourgeoisie”) that wanted to cement its status with the commissions of portraits that had been traditionally reserved for Royalty or the Aristocracy. Professionals, such as bankers, industrialists, and even successful writers wanted their effigies to be painted for posterity.

The American expatriate John Singer Sargent is considered by many as one of the most talented portrait painters of his day. His Portrait of Madame X (1884), painted not by commission but at Sargent’s own request, strikingly depicts a young French socialite in a provocative black dress. When presented at the Paris Salon that year it was deemed too controversial, but some art historians think the ensuing furore helped pave the way to his success in Britain and America. His Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth (1889), with the actress in full Shakespearean regalia, has a dramatic Pre-Raphaelite flavour, while the later portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1892) is a lot softer and diffused in terms colours and light.

Another key figure is fellow American expat James Jebusa Shannon, who made a successful career in London out of his Holland Park studio. A good example of his skill and style can be seen in his portrait of Lady Marguerite Nevill, Lady Hastings (1905), as well as The Flower Girl (1900), which is based on a work in the Tate Britain collection.

Meanwhile, in Paris, the young Émile Friant was captivating audiences with his crisp and exquisitely executed paintings that tended to focus sharply on the figures in the foreground, leaving backgrounds slightly blurry, as can be seen in his mesmerising Young Lady from Nancy in Snow Landscape (1887).

5.

Collecting

The rich variety of 19th century portraiture makes it a particularly fascinating subject to collect, and potential buyers will find a diverse range of price points depending on styles, subjects and techniques, tailored to different budgets and collecting focus.

Prices range depending on medium and style. Lovers of the Pre-Raphaelites will be interested to know that a Female Head Study for a Nymph in Hylas and the Nymphs by Waterhouse sold for £21,312 in October 2020 at Bonhams London. A few months earlier, in June 2020 and also at Bonhams London, a Study for An Untold Dream by Burne-Jones sold for £68,812. Meanwhile, in 2015, a small but stunning Portrait of Jane Morris, drawn by Rossetti in 1873 in pen and brown ink, fetched £146,500.

For those interested in Sargent, Bonhams London sold his 1899 Portrait of Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen for £125,000 in 2017.

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