Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are pleased to offer for sale this lovely and quite unusual Still Life oil painting on canvas by the artist Louisa M. Bancroft, who has signed the painting in the lower left hand corner and signed and entitled it on the reverse of the canvas 'Carnations'. The painting depicts an arrangement of pastel coloured carnations in a blue bowl with a round finial, which is hanging by chains. The chains are attached to a metal circular cap, which hangs on a chain beneath a pierced brass or gilded hand, which is also hanging from the ceiling by a single chain.

Louisa Mary Bancroft 1864-1948, was born Louisa Mary Heald on 17th January 1864 in Mere, Cheshire. She studied at Warrington School of Art in the early 1880s, under its Headmaster John Christmas Thompson (1824-1906). In 1887, she married another artist, a widower with three children, by the name of Elias Mollineaux Bancroft 1846-1924, who was primarily a landscape painter. They lived in Manchester. She was a still life, flower and miniature painter. After the death of her husband in 1924 in Whitby, she remained there and, in the 1939 Register, she was living at 31 Henrietta Street, with her stepdaughter, a retired schoolmistress. She died in Whitby in 1948, nine years before her stepdaughter.

Louisa exhibited from 1895-1939, proven by her entries at three exhibitions in 1939, mentioned in the newspapers of the time, where she was a member of the Fylingdale Group of Artists. She exhibition 67 works at the Royal Cambrian Academy, 3 at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, 13 at The Manchester City Art Gallery, 1 at the Royal Miniature Society and 4 at the Cooling & Sons Gallery. Two of her works are in the National Collection, both at the Manchester City AG and can be viewed at Artuk.org. Auction results for her works are available at the usual sites.

The painting is framed in its original, swept gilt frame and two slips. It will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size: 19 1/2" x 11 3/4" - 49.5cm x 29.85cm

Frame size: 26" x 18" - 66cm x 45.75cm

Medium: Oils on Canvas

Condition: Very good. The canvas is clean and taut and there are no repairs, craquelure or paint loss. The frame is in very good condition for its age.