Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are excited to list for sale this early pastel portrait of a young lady by the celebrated Hungarian artist KAROLY (CHARLES) BROCKY. The pastel is unsigned, which is quite usual for most of his work, but the pastel is undoubtedly by his hand. One only has to look at other pastel portraits of his to confirm this. The portrait is three-quarter face of a young lady with dark hair in ringlets at the side and drawn up at the back, with brown eyes, wearing a dark grey or black dress, with a lace fichu around the neck, held together by a brooch.

KAROLY BROCKY A.N.W.S., was born in Temesvar in Hungary (now Timisoara in Romania) on the 22nd May, 1807, the son of a hairdresser. His father died whilst he was young and he was brought up by an acting troupe, as his mother's sister had married one of them. He had his first drawing lesson under Antal Schuetz in Temesvar in 1822/23. Between 1825 and 1832, he studied at the Vienna Academy where he achieved lst Prize in 1926, the Lampi Prize in 1830 and a Gold Medal in 1832.

He exhibited from 1834, lived in Italy in 1835, then Paris in 1837. In 1838, he was invited by a Scottish aristocrat and art collector called Munro of Novar to come to London. By 1839, he had gained the support of the art dealer Dominic Colnaghi, for whom he produced work. He was much influenced by the work of William Etty.

He exhibited at The Royal Academy from 1839 and at the British Institution and the New Watercolour Society from 1840. In 1841, he was commissioned by Queen Victoria and do two portraits of herself and Prince Albert, these pastels now in the collection of Queen Elizabeth. In fact, the portrait of the young Queen Victoria bears a considerable resemblance to this pastel, apart from the colour of the eyes. By now Karoly Brocky had become a fashionable Society Portraitist. In 1854 he was elected an Associate Member of the New Watercolour Society.

In 1844 he travelled to Paris and Vienna and in 1846 to Dresden and Berlin. He sadly died in London on 8th July 1855 and is buried in Kensal Green Cemetary.

In his will he left 5 of his paintings to the Hungarian National Museum, which are now in the Hungarian National Gallery, along with four more of his works. As he had done the majority of his work outside Hungary, he was largely unknown in that country, until, in the late 19th Century, an art historian tracked his paintings down in England and many works were purchased by Hungarian collectors.

There are 5 of his paintings in the National Collections in the UK, 4 in the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool and 1 in Sheffield Museum. There are many images of his work on google, including the portrait of Queen Victoria. His oils achieve prices in the tens of thousands and his pastels in the upper hundreds.

In 1870 Norman Wilkinson wrote a book entitled 'A Sketch of the life of the Artist Charles Brocky'. He is listed in The Dictionary of Victorian Painters by Christopher Wood, Graves Dictionary, and The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists by Mallalieu.

The pastel, which has been executed on his typical buff paper, has been newly double mounted to complement and is framed in a 2" black and gilt frame to suit. It is ready to hang.

Medium Pastels