Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are offering this wonderful oil on canvas board by the celebrated portraitist Albert Henry Collings, which we are attributing to the artist, as it is unsigned. However the painting was part of a small collection of paintings by this artist at auction and fully catalogued as by him, some of which we will be listing shortly. The painting depicts a scholar or academic in Tudor times, sitting at a table or small desk, surrounded by books. He is sporting a neatly trimmed beard and moustache and is wearing a Tudor bonnet in dark red, with a matching jenkin. Over his white, full sleeved shirt, which is open at the neck, and the jerkin, he is wearing a fur trimmed cloak. He is sitting on a stout, barley twist wooden chair, probably oak, with a studded leather back and seat. Against the wall behind the table is a large cupboard with panelled door and with a bust standing on top of it.

Albert Henry Collings RBA RI 1868-1947 was a celebrated portraitist, who was born, trained and lived in London. He was born on 8th December 1868. He worked in oils, watercolours and pastels, specialising in figure subjects and portraits.

He was the son of painter and calligrapher John Richard Collings and Eliza nee Clark, who was the daughter of the animal painter James Clark. His brother Ernest Collings was a heraldic artist and he shared a home with him in 1891. By 1911, he was living with his sister Emily at 42 Chepstow Villas, Notting Hill. He later moved to 1 Woodchurch Road, West Hampstead. He died at St. John's Nursing Home in Buxton, Derbyshire on 6th May, 1947, leaving £10,858 in his will.

He exhibited from 1896-1938 at the Royal Academy, a total of 19 works and at the RBA 98 works. He was elected a Member of the RBA in 1897 and of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour in 1913. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1893 and was awarded a gold medal for a portrait in 1907 and a bronze medal at the Salon des Artistes Francais in 1917.

His biography in Who's Who in Art in 1934 listed his interests as music and golf. Biographical information for this artist may be found on Wikipedia, in The Dictionary of Victoria Painters by Christopher Wood, The Dictionary of British Artists (Collectors' Club) and the Dictionary of British Artists by Grant M. Waters. There is also another biography online under the Clark family of artists.

There are 9 of his paintings in the National Collection which can be viewed at BBC - Your Paintings. They are situated at the Towner Gallery, the National Trust at Tyntesfield (3 paintings), the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum Coventry (2 works), Ramsgate Library, Astley Hall Museum & Art Gallery and the Scout Association.

The painting is framed in its original 1 3/4" swept bronzed gesso and oak frame and slip and will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size: 17 1/8" x 11 1/8" - 43.5cm x 28.25cm

Frame size: 21" x 15" - 53.35cm x 38.1cm

Medium: Oils on Winsor & Newton Rathbone Canvas Board

Condition: Very good condition. There are no repairs, no paint loss, or craquelure. The frame and slip are in very good condition.