Studio RT Ltd

Description

This is a wonderful portrait in oils on canvas by the artist Godfrey Douglas Giles who has signed and inscribed the painting in the lower right hand corner 'To F.W.J. From G. D.Giles 1898'. On the reverse of the canvas at the bottom, someone other than the artist, possibly the sitter or his wife, has written Frederick William Jarvis Colonel F. W. Jarvis Loyal Suffolk Hussars Aged 32 'Freddy ' Painted by D.G.Giles (sic) 1898. The painting depicts Frederick William Jarvis, in 1898, in the frock coat which had only been issued that year to replace the stable jacket of the Duke of York's Own Loyal Suffolk Hussars and the red pillbox hat with gold lace rim. We have been unable to establish his exact rank in 1898, but know that he ended the Boer War in 1902 as a Captain.

Godfrey Douglas Giles (Major) was born on 9th November 1857 in Karachi India (now Pakistan), the son of a naval officer Captain Edward Giles. He attended the Royal Military College Sandhurst and saw service in Afghanistan, Egypt and South Africa. In 1878, he was a Sub-Leiutenant in the 7th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. In 1884, he retired from the Indian Army Bombay Staff Corps with the rank of Major.

In 1885, he went to Paris, where he studied painting under Carolus Duran. He became known as a painter, engraver, draughtsman, portrait painter and painter of military subject, battle scenes, hunting and sporting scenes, especially in Newmarket, Suffolk, where he lived for many years at St. Margaret, Cheveley Road. He was also known for his lithographs of military uniforms and did caricatures for Vanity Fair. During the Boer War (1899-1902) he became a War Correspondent for the Graphic. He was listed in Who's Who Volume 59 Page 679 in 1907.

In 1914, he was a captain in the Territorial Reserve in the Duke of York's Own Loyal Suffolk Hussars. He retired in 1919 with the rank of Major in the Royal Field Artillery in WWI. He died in Edinburgh in 1941.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy 1884-1888 and at the Paris Salon in 1885 scenes from his campaign in Sudan and Afghanistan. He also exhibited 1882-1904 4 paintings at the Royal Academy, 4 at the Walker AG in Liverpool, 2 at Manchester City AG, 1 at the Royal Society of British Artists, 1 at the Royal Scottish Academy, 1 at the Glasgow Institution, etc.

The British Museum holds a drawing by him of the Poet Robert Browning. There are 8 of his works in the National Collection, mostly large battle scenes, which can be viewed at artuk.org. His auction results may be found at the usual sites, but in the last 20 years, the record price of £29.900 was achieved in 1994 for his 'Charge of the Light Brigade' and the same sum in November 1994 for 'Engagement in the Battle of Tamai in W. Sudan'.

Colonel Frederick William Jarvis DSO, was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk on 5th May 1866, the youngest son of Lewis Whincop Jarvis, banker, solicitor, landown and Deputy Lieutenant and later Sir Lewis Jarvis. We know that he ended the Boer War as a Captain in the Loyal Suffolk Hussars, and received the Queens South Africa Medal( Q. Victoria) with clasps for Cape Colony, Transvaal, Orange Free State and Relief of Ladysmith. He also received the Kings (Edward VII) South Africa Medal with two date clasps SA1 and SA2. We have downloaded a tran scription showing this. We have a copy of an article from the Norfolk Chronicle on 16th May 1908, which states that Major Frederick W. Jarvis, Suffolk (the Duke of York's Own Loyal Suffolk Hussars) Yeomanry, is to be a brigade major, dated April 22nd. We also have a copy of his medal card for WWI. His service record has not been digitised and is only available to view at the Records Office in Kew. (Any copies that we have, will be provided with the painting).

In the 1939 Register, he was living as a Retired Colonel in a large house Sunningdale House, Old Roar Road, St. Leonards, Hastings, Sussex, with his wife Mary. He died in 1954 and was buried at St. Leonard's Anglican Church, Hollington, Sussex.

We do not know hown when or where the artist met 'Freddy', probably during their military service, but he obviously gave him the portrait as a gift, as the old frame bore the label of a framer in Newmarket by the name of J. Petty. The portrait has been newly framed in a more fitting 4" ornate gilt frame and will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size: 23" x 19 1/8" - 58.5cm x 48.5cm

Frame size: 31 1/4" x 27 3/8" - 79.35cm x 69.5cm

Medium: Oils on canvas

Condition: Very very good. There is one tiny repair to the canvas, which is clean and taut. There is no craquelure or stretcher marks. The frame is new.