Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are pleased to offer this stunning. oval, profile Oil Portrait of a Beautiful Lady which is attributed to the Polish/British artist Richard Von Marientreu. This portrait was purchased from auction with another by this artist with similar colour palette. which is signed and which we will be listing in the next few weeks. The artist has a predilection for green in the background of his female portraits, as shown here. The portrait depicts a profile head and shoulders portrait of a beautiful lady. with her rich auburn hair very full at the front, and swept up into a chignon at the back of her head. She is wearing red lipstick and has some gauzy material around her neck. Sadly, there is no clue as to her identity, either on the stretcher or on the back of the original frame, but the artist was a society portrait painter and painted many notables and members of the landed gentry, as you will see from his biography below.

Richard von Marientreu was born in Grodek on 15th August, 1902, in what is now Poland (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Ryszard Richard Schneider Edler von Marientreu’s father was Austrian military governor for the area. Although von Marientreu (pronounced Marientroy) wanted to be a painter, he was sent to the military school in Cracow, then the academy in Vienna to continue his training. In 1918, while serving in the Austrian Army, he was badly wounded and had two years in hospital. Against the wishes of his family, von Marientreu left for Vienna and later Prague to study for four years at the Academy of Painting. In 1925 his professor engaged him to paint large frescoes in the cloisters of the Church of Maria Schein, near Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia. He was discovered and brought to England in 1933 by his early patron Marie Ludlow-Symons. In the 1939 Register, he is listed as living in Lidford, near Bordon in Hampshire, with the widowed Marie Ludlow-Symons, his patron.
Although when he arrived in London in 1933 he could not speak English, introductions to fashionable society soon launched him on a career as a portrait painter. He exhibited ath the London Portrait Gallery in 1939. There followed a string of exhibitions in England and abroad. His 1953 exhibition at the RWS Galleries showed three aspects of von Marientreu’s output: War canvases and drawings of people in air-raid shelters his large, powerful and romantic canvases dealing with ancient and mythological themes and his portraits of notables. These – always painted by an immaculate von Marientreu clad in a Savile Row suit – included King George V, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, The Princess Royal in 1955L the Duke of Edinburgh and Field-Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein.

He married Marion Coutts Milne 1901-1988 in 1964, He had studios at 54 Bedford Gardens, London W.8., Campden Hill and, latterly at The Studio House, 47 Westfields Avenue, Barnes, London SW13, which is possibly the address where he died, as it is definitely the address where his wife died three years earlier, discovered from probate records of her will.

Von Marientreu died in the district of Wandsworth, possibly in Barnes, London in the second quarter of 1991.. He had been naturalized a British citizen in 1947.

There are 5 of his paintings in the National Collection,, which may be viewed at ArtUK.org.

The painting is newly glazed and mounted, to replace the old painted oval surround and is framed iin its original swept gilt frame.

The painting has been executed on Winsor & Newton Herga canvas, which first became avaiilable in 1951. According to Winsor and Newton it describes Herga canvas as 'A single primed, pure flax canvas with a very fune grain but with adequate tooth. This canvas was formerly known as S[pecially Woven No. R.114. Like Winton, it is made of specially selected yarns. It is suitable for small figure work, landscapes, all work with fine detail.

Image size: 22 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches - 57.15cm x 47cm

Frame size: 28 x 24 1/8 inches - 71.1cm x 61.3cm

Medium: Oils on Herga Winsor & Newton canvas

Condition: Very good. There is no damage or craquelure and the canvas is clean and taut. The original frame is in very good condition, but the mount is new.