Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are offering for sale this quite large still life oil on canvas by the artist E. Steele, who has signed the painting in the lower right hand corner and dated it 1900. The painting depicts two bunches of white grapes, one bunch of purple grapes, a melon, three apples and a cut lemon, framed by some vine leaves.

This artist is the same person referred to as Edwin Steele on the auction sites, but with incorrect dates of either 1803-1871, or 1837-1898. As there are quite a few paintings shown on these sites with dates post 1900, the most recent being 1918, and obviously the work of the same artist, it is quite clear that these dates are wrong. Having done some research online and found the Rockingham china and porcelain patter book, we have found that Edwin Steele was a painter and enamaller at this factory, but his dates are 1805-1871 and he was the son of Thomas Steel who was also an artist at the factory before his son. Thomas Steel moved back to Staffordshire to work at the Minton factory, taking his son with him and they lived in Stoke on Trent. As there is an Edwin J. Steele who was born in 1861 in Stoke on Trent and who died in 1933 in Birmingham, which fits with the dates on the paintings, we believe that it is this Edwin who painted this painting and he was Edwin's son. There is one painting listed on artprice with a date of 1849, but this is in an earlier style and is probably the work of the earlier Edwin.

He is know as a painter of fruit and flowers, although there are some landscapes listed. He was quite a prolific painter, although he did not appear to exhibit, as there are no biographical details listed in our reference books, which are drawn from exhibition records.

Auction results achieved for works by this artist are listed on artprice (150 listings), artnet (88), arcadja (58) and findartinfo (34).

The painting is framed in a very nice 2 3/4" ornate swept gilt frame and is ready to hang.

Medium Oils on canvas