Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are offering this large 19th Century oil on canvas by the artist Bertholme, who has signed the painting in the lower right hand corner. We are unsure of his initials, which could read E. F, G. I, G. J, or G. L. However, the painting depicts a mountainous landscape on a sunny day with the sky filled with puffy white clouds. A narrow, but fast flowing, river is running between rocky banks and cascading down in a torrent in the foreground.

After considerable research, we have found an artist by the name of George L. Bertholme, who was born in 1826 and appears in the 1861 Census listed as an artist and living with his wife and son George in London. From the newspaper archive, we discovered that he exhibited in London at the Conduit Street Galleries in 1894. There were also two other mentions of his paintings being sold at auction in 1853 and at an exhibition in Plymouth in 1878. However we have been unable to see any examples of his work. Interestngly, we could find no birth or death date for him in the records, nor could we find any other Census listings, but we found his birth date from the 1861 Census.

We have also found that Bonhams sold a 30" x 20" mountainous landscape, different to this one, in their sale on the 8th March, 2005, which was signed C. F. Bertholm, with no e at the end. It is our opinion that both the Bonhams painting and ours were painted by the same hand. So, either G. L. Bertholme, signed some of his paintings with a slightly different signature, or both of these are pseudonyms for a differnt artist altogether. Unfortunately, we will probably never know.

The painting is framed in a 3 1/2" ornate swept gilt frame that is relatively contemporary. It will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size: 29 1/2" x 19 1/2" - 75cm x 49.5cm

Frame size: 36" x 26" - 91.45cm x 66cm

Medium: Oils on relined canvas

Condition: Very good. The canvas has been relined professionally relatively recently, presumably because it had some craquelure consistent with age. The frame is also in very good condition.