Academy Fine Paintings

Description

This is a large fine oil 19th century oil on canvas depicting a young woman of Ancient Rome in a sheer subucula tunic selling ‘Oranges’ by the Victorian neoclassical painter Arthur Hill RBA (1820-1920). The painting is signed and dated by the artist, and was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1877. It hangs in a newly commissioned bespoke fine quality gilt metal leaf frame.

As with all of the original antique oil paintings we sell it is offered in excellent condition, having just been professionally cleaned and re-varnished.

Arthur Hill was a renowned painter of ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Roman scenes typically depicting poor yet always alluring young women. Like John William Godward, Ernest Normand, and Thomas Ralph Spence, Hill was greatly influenced by the great Olympian masters of British neo-classical painting Lord Leighton and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, but unlike them he chose to portray young working women rather than the idle rich.

Arthur Hill exhibited 26 paintings at the Royal Academy (‘Oranges’ being one of these), and 28 at the Suffolk Street Gallery of the Royal Society of British Artists of which organisation he was a member.

Dimensions: (framed) 109cm x 79cm (42¾” x 31”)
Dimensions: (canvas only) 91cm x 61cm (35¾” x 24”)
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Provenance: Private US collection.
Presentation: Fine neoclassical gilt metal leaf frame. All of the new frames we commission are especially made for us to order by one of the UK’s top period frame makers.
Condition: Excellent. Newly professionally cleaned and re-varnished. Ready to hang.

About AFP
Academy Fine Paintings is an international fine art dealership based in Buckinghamshire, England. We specialise in 19th century British and European oil paintings by some of the most important artists of the period, from Victorian landscapes and subject pictures to Belle Epoque portraits and Orientalist scenes.

Condition
Clients should always bear in mind that the vast majority of paintings we deal in are antiques - works over 100 years old and frequently older – and will therefore invariably retain some evidence of aging, historical damage and repair. During its lifetime a 150-year old oil painting may well have been exposed to extremes of heat or cold, intrusion of water, bumps, cuts and natural age-related deterioration, all of which require restoration. Whilst our conservator is one of the most eminent in the UK, no restorer can reverse time and every sign of ageing and natural deterioration, therefore anyone wishing to purchase a painting that looks like new should think about buying a new painting rather than an antique one.