Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are delighted to offer this large and minutely executed character portrait watercolour by the listed domestic and genre watercolourist Henry Terry, who has signed the painting below the portrait to the left. The watercolour is entitled verso 'An Old Dame'. The painting depicts an elderly lady wearing a pale blue bonnet with a deep brim, frills over the crown and a deep flange over the back of her neck, possibly to protect from the sun. It is tied under her chin and she is wearing a purple lace cap beneath it. Her hair is white with a middle parting and her eyes are blue. As with all of Henry Terry's faces, the characterisation is superb.

This is one of a pair of paintings by this artist that we are listing.

Henry Terry, was born in Pimlico, London in 1854. He ws the son of a stonemason and architectural sculptor and, in the Census of 1871, Henry himself was an apprentice sculptor. However, by the 1881 Census, when living at 34 Crawshay Street, Lambeth and his father and sister, he listed his occupation as Artist painter. By 1891, he was living alone in Yew Cottage, Great Milton, Thame, Oxfordshire as an Artist painter in watercolours. And there the trail goes cold, as we cannot find him in either the 1901 or 1911 census or the 1939 Register, although according to differering dates in the reference books, he was exhibiting up to 1914 in two of them and 1920 in another. As we can find no death date for him either, we can only assume that he died sometime between 1920 and 1939.

Two of our reference books call him Henry M. Terry, but we can find no evidence of a second name on any of the official records. He is also often confused with an artist called Henry J. Terry, who was mainly a lithographer, who moved to Switzerland and died in Lausanne. His short bio and exhibition history may be found in The Dictionary of British Artists (Collectors' Club), The Dictionary of Victorian Painters and The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists. His exhibition history up to 1893 can be found in Graves Dictionary.

He exhibited 17 paintings at the Royal Academy between 1879 and 1894, 1 at the Royal Instituation of Painters in Watercolours, 44 at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, as well as 17 at the Royal Social of British Artists, Machester City AG 15,etcetera.

The watercolour has been newly double mounted in two tone acid free mountboard and is newly framed in a 1 3/4 inch Gilt frame. It will be supplied with new brass picture hangers, new brass picture wire and will be ready to hang.

Image size: 13 3/8 x 10 3/4 inches - 34cm x 27.3cm

Frame size: 22 1/2 x 19 3/4 inches - 57.15cm x 50.2cm

Medium: Watercolours

Condition: Very good. The colours are strong and there is no fading. There is a slight crease in the paper to the lower left hand corner. The mounts and frame are new.