Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are delighted to offer this watercolour by the renowned genre painter and watercolourist Carlton Alfred Smith, who has signed the painting in the lower right hand corner. The painting depicts a scene in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), or possibly India, with a women in a red sari is talking to a man in a turban, who is sitting outside a shop selling fruit and vegetables. The woman has her hair pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck and is wearing a cream top under her sari, which has green bands at the end and at the hem. She is bare-footed and is carrying a circular basket under her arm.

We think that the scene is probably in Ceylon because the artist and his wife left England for Colombo aboard the SS Warwickshire, a ship of the Bibby Steamship Line, on the 23rd March 1916. As WWI was only half way through, this was rather a risky undertaking. According to several of our reference books, they didn't return to England until 1923, although the reason that we are unsure of the location of the painting is that we do not know whether they travelled on to India itself. Anyway, this watercolour dates to that period.

Carlton Alfred Sjmith was born in Camden Town in the St. Pancras area of London in 1853 and was a portrait and genre painter in oils and watercolour. He was the son of a steel engraver. He was educated in France and began his career as a lithographer before becoming a painter. He studied at the Slade School. His wife Martha, nee Martha Sarah King, was also an artist who painted landscapes and coastal views.

We have been unable to confirm either his date of birth, marriage or death from the online records, but his birth and death dates of 1853-1946 are given in several of the reference books, although we couldn't find a listing for either him or his wife in the 1939 register.

We did find three census records for him and two electoral registrations. In 1891 he was living at 72 Park Road, Hampstead with his wife, two daughters and two servants and from this entry it would appear that he married Martha circa 1888. In 1901 they had moved to Surrey and were living at Vine Cottage, Witley. By 1911, the last year that census records are currently available, he and his wife were living with one servant at 31 Fairfax Road, Bedford Park, Chiswick. Sometime after their return to England we found in 1930 and 1931 and electoral registration for them both at 12 Bedford Park Mansions.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1879 57 paintings, at the RBA 116, at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour 138, 74 at the Royal Oil Painters Institute, 47 at the Walker AG in Liverpool and 13 at the Glasgow Institute. He was elected a full Member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1879, of the Royal Institute in 1889 and of the Royal Oil Painters Institute in 1891.

His biographical details are listed in The Dictionary of British Artists (Collectors' Club), The Dictionary of British Artists by Grant M. Waters, The Dictionary of Victorian Painters by Christopher Wood and The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists by H. L. Mallalieu.

The painting has been newly double mounted in two tone acid free mountboard and is newly framed in a 1" ornate gilt frame. It will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size: 14 3/8" x 9 3/4" - 36.5cm x 24.75cm

Frame size: 22" x 17" - 55.8cm x 43.3cm

Medium: Watercolours

Condition: Very good with strong colours and no fading. The mounts, glazing and frame are new.