Regency Portrait of a Young Man - Watercolor Miniature Painting - Unknown British Artist - Late 18th - Early 19th Century

 

        Those of you who have been following my blog know that I am very fond of a well executed portrait. Several weeks ago I was wondering around the halls of eBay UK when I found a well executed late 18th - early 19th Century miniature watercolor portrait of a dapper young man, obviously a member of the haut ton of English Society. I programmed a bid and won the auction and a few days ago it arrived. The work is extraordinary in the detail of the sitter and is a beautiful example of the early 19th century miniaturist's work. There is a very light pencil underdrawing detectable on the surface of the paper, especially around the face of the sitter.  The tiny painting measures just three inches by four inches but is packed full of brush stroke detail and has to be the work of a well trained late 18th - early 19th century artist. I have examined it under high magnification and yes it is a watercolor and not a print. Examination under UV light shows no detectable in-painting or repairs to the image. I have searched the painting for a signature but it appears to be unsigned, at least on the front. It is adhered to the case and I would not even contemplate trying to remove it from the mount.  Enjoy.

Roger de la Fresnaye (1885-1925) - Standing Female Nude - circa 1900-1910 (Attributed)

 

Portraits of the Artist

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              I was on my usual haunts on eBay France today when I found this very nice standing female nude by the French Artist Roger de la Fresnaye (1885-1925). The asking price was way outside my budget but I thought I would share it with you. Apparently de la Fresnaye's works demand some pretty hefty auction prices, this drawing included. His Cubist works have very little appeal to me but his observational drawing skills regarding the live model were right up there with the best. 

     Here is some biographic information from the web:

"La Fresnaye was born in Le Mans where his father, an officer in the French army, was temporarily stationed. The La Fresnayes were an aristocratic family whose ancestral home, the Château de La Fresnaye, is in Falaise. His education was classically based, and was followed from 1903 to 1904 by studies at the Académie Julian in Paris, and from 1904 to 1908 at the École des Beaux-Arts.^[1] From 1908 he studied at the Académie Ranson under Maurice Denis and Paul Sérusier, whose joint influence is evident in early works such as Woman with Chrysanthemums, 1909. This demonstrates the dreamlike symbolist ambience and stylistic character of work by the Les Nabis group.From 1912 to 1914 La Fresnaye was a member of the Section d'Or group of artists, and his work demonstrates an individual response to cubism. He was influenced by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, but his work has a more decorative than structural feel and his prismatic colours reflect the influence of Robert Delaunay. He was a member of the Puteaux Group, an orphist offshoot of cubism led by Jacques Villon. His most famous work is The Conquest of the Air, 1913, which depicts himself and his brother outdoors with a balloon in the background.

La Fresnaye enlisted in the French army in World War I but contracted tuberculosis and was discharged in 1918. His health deteriorated rapidly after the war. He never recovered the physical energy to undertake sustained work. In the later paintings that he did create, he abandoned cubist spatial analysis for a more linear style. He ceased painting in 1922 but continued to draw. De la Fresnaye died in Grassein in 1925 at the age of 40."

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Here are a few examples of his other works: