Ernest Johnson Antiques

PAINTINGS
~ Partial Inventory ~

‘Queen’s Cottage, Kew Gardens’ Watercolour. Emily Mary Bibbens Warren (1868-1956) RBA. British / Canadian. Dimensions, 8” x 10.5”. Signed bottom right.

‘The Arch of Titus’
An Early 20th Century Architectural Landscape. Watercolour. Signed indistinctly bottom right. Dimensions: 9.5” x 11.5”, set within a period gilt gesso frame.

In 79 AD Titus Flavius Vespasianus became Emperor of the Roman Empire but died just two years later in 81 AD. The popular emperor was soon deified by the Senate and made a god. Later that same year his brother Domitian who had succeeded Titus as Emperor, began construction of the arch and upon completion in 85 AD he dedicated it in his brother’s name. The Arch of Titus is one of only three remaining arches at the Roman Forum.

‘The Moor Carpet Seller’

Early 20th Century Orientalist School.
Oil on canvas, dimensions 21.5” x 13.5”, set within its original frame.
Continental, probably Austrian. Circa 1900.

SOLD

‘Gypsy Girl’

An Extremely Fine 19th Century Genre Portrait. Jerome Uhl (1842-1916) American. Oil on canvas, dimensions, 25” x 20.75”. Signed & dated upper left, Paris ’85, set within an exceptionally fine giltwood frame.

Note:
The subject- matter and execution of this painting is highly reminiscent of works often associated with Russian artist Alexei Harlamoff (1840-1925).

SOLD

Newly Arrived

Four Landscapes by Lily Bell Rhodes (1889-1975) Canadian.

Lily Bell Rhodes was the grand-daughter of Canadian author, Historian and past President of the Royal Society of Canada, Sir James McPherson Le Moine (1825-1912). The Le Moine family home, known as ‘Spencer Grange’ was built in 1848 near Sainte-Foy Quebec and became the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, now a Canadian Heritage property and museum. Miss Rhodes studied art at Les Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Quebec City under Henry Ivan Neilson (Professor of Painting, Drawing & Anatomy) as well with instructor & noted Canadian artist, Jean Paul Lemieux.

Three of the four panels shown below are of sites Miss Rhodes visited while traveling overseas throughout the British countryside, the fourth is of the Charlevoix region in rural Quebec, most likely Sainte-Foy. Although Miss Rhodes painted for her own enjoyment and is not a listed artist, her competency of composition, perspective and palette as demonstrated in these pictorial vignettes underscores an obvious and elevated degree of ability. In addition to their esthetic merit, these charming works are an interesting and historically important link to Canada’s, and in particular, Quebec’s history.

Purchased from the previous owner who obtained them directly from a member of the Rhode’s family in the early 1980’s.


*‘Charlevoix Countryside, Quebec’* Oil on panel. Dimensions, 6” x 9” Signed bottom left, unframed.	*‘Land’s End, Cornwall’* Oil on panel. 4.75” x 7”. Unsigned, unframed.

*‘Trinity Church, Stratford’* Oil on panel. Dimensions, 4.75” x 7”. Unsigned, unframed.	*‘Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire’* Oil on panel. Dimensions, 4.75” x 7”. Unsigned, unframed.

'Gentleman in a Black Tunic'
An 18th Century Portrait. Canvas dimensions: 29.75 x 22.5”, set within a fine gilttwood frame. English School. Circa 1770.

''Signor Nicolo Sanchi, Firenze'

A Fine 18th Century Portrait of a Florentine Magistrate. Canvas dimensions: 27.5” x 21”, re-lined, set within a period ebonized frame. Italian School, Circa 1730.

Title referenced to the sitters calling card shown in hand.

SOLD

’Near Barnet, London’

Claude Hayes (1852-1922) RI, ROI, RWS. Irish.

Watercolour. Titled on reverse. Dimensions: 13” x 18”. Signed bottom left. Original gilt gesso frame.

Claude Hayes studied art at the Royal Academy of London, and was elected to the Royal Academy of Oil Painters 1883 and to the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours in 1886. He exhibited at the Royal Hibernia Academy in 1874 and at the Royal Academy in London from 1876 to 1916. His work is on permanent display at the Ulster Museum and the Leeds City Art Gallery, as well as at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

‘Haying in the Meadow’

Claude Hayes (1852-1922) RI, ROI, RWS. Irish. Watercolour. Dimensions: 18.5” x 22”. Signed bottom left.

‘Autumn Sunrise’

An Important 19^th Century Landscape by William Louis Sonntag (1822-1900) American.

Oil on canvas. Canvas dimensions: 8” x 12”. Signed bottom left.

William Louis Sonntag is regarded as one of the principle artists of the Hudson River School, famous for his autumnal landscapes of the Ohio River Valley, Alleghany and Adirondack Mountains, and especially so for his stirring ‘Luminist’ views – as is observed in this fine example. Sonntags work is represented in several permanent collections, such as The New York Metropolitan Museum, The Peabody Institute, The United States National Art Gallery, The Brooklyn Museum, The New York Historical Society as well as several other notable institutions including The White House.

'Murray Bay, from Cap a L’aigle'

Vivian Walker (1903-1972)Canadian. Oil on masonite.

Dimensions: 11.5” x 15.5”. Signed bottom left. Original gilt gesso frame.

(Vivian Walker studied art at Sir Williams College of Art in Montreal. She had several successful exhibitions between 1943&1962, including works exhibited at the Canadian Exhibition in Washington D.C. in 1954)

‘Fishing a Mountain Stream’

19th Century Landscape. Oil on canvas. Signed Burbank, dated 1872. Dimensions: 9” x 15”. Set in a period giltwood frame.

Distress at Sea. Oil on canvas. 19th Century British School. Dimensions: 41" x 49". Original gilt gesso frame. Circa 1870. Currently out of the showroom.

Woman in a Powdered Wig.

Oil on canvas. 18th Century Italian School. Dimensions: 28" x 21". Set within its original and finely carved Rococo frame. Circa 1750.

A Fine and Early 19th Century Historical British Portrait of Frederick Augustus Berkeley, 5th Earl of Berkeley (1745-1810). Painted in the style of Sir John Hoppner R.A., British. (1758-1810). Dimensions, 30" x 25". Re-lined.

Frederick Augustus Berkeley, 5th Earl of Berkeley was the son of Lt.-Col. Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley and Elizabeth Drax. He was born on 24 May 1745. He was baptised on 10 June 1745 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Covent Garden, London, England. He married Mary Cole, daughter of William Cole, on 16 May 1796 at Lambeth Church, Surrey, England, in a private marriage. He died on 8 August 1810 at age 65. His will (dated 12 April 1810) was probated on 31 August 1810.
He succeeded to:
- Title of 13th Lord Berkeley on 9 January 1755, by writ.
- Title of 5th Viscount Dursley, co. Gloucester on 9 January
1755.
- Title of 5th Earl of Berkeley, co. Gloucester on 9 January
1755.

Portrait of Frederick Augustus Berkeley seated with his son William, hanging in the Great Hall at Berkeley Castle.

Held the office of:
- High Steward of Gloucester between 1766 and 1810.
- Warden of the Forest of Dean between 1766 and 1810.
- Constable of St. Briavet's Castle between 1766 and 1810.
- Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire between 1766 and 1810.
- Gained the rank of Colonel in 1779 in the service of the British Army.

Oil on canvas, John Wallace (1841-1905) British. Titled
Near The Hague, Evening. The reverse bearing original exhibition label. Signed and dated 1880, bottom left. Original frame.Dimensions, 10.5" x 17.25".

'Coastal View, Gaspe'

Oil on Canvas. Henri Leopold Masson, (1907-1996) RCA, OSA. Dimensions, 14.75" x 17.75". Signed. Original frame.

‘Abstract View, Ethiopia’ Catherine Exarchou-Gensonnet, (1921-).Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 23.5" x 20.5". (Born in Athens, Catherine Exarchou-Gensonnet studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Marseilles, and the Academie Julian in Paris. She later moved to Montreal in 1953. Exhibited at The Ambassador Theatre, Addis-Abeba, Ethiopia in1968)

	*‘The Great Sphinx at Giza’* A Fine and Important 18th Century Panoramic Watercolour. Attributed to Luigi Mayer (1750-1803). Italian. Dimensions: 22.25" x 35.75. Luigi Mayer (1775-1803) was an Italian born watercolourist & draughtsman of German descent famous for his representations of the Near East and was commissioned by Sir Robert Ainslie, English Ambassador to Turkey from 1776-1792, to sketch and paint views of panoramic landscapes, ancient monuments and views of the Nile. Luigi Mayer’s works are considered by scholars to be the most accurate in portraying views of the Ottoman Empire and Egypt at that time. It is worth noting that Mayer’s works pre-date those by English artist David Roberts (1796-1864) R.A. by nearly forty years.

*Text beneath bottom margin (not illustrated) reads as follows:* VEDUTA GENERALE DELLE PIRAMIDI DI GIZA PRESSA VICINO LA TESTA DELLA SEINGE SITUATA DIRIMPETTO DELLA SECONDIDA EDA NOTARSI, CHE LA SECONDADA PIRAMIDE COLLA SEINGE SONO IN PIANO PIU BASSO DELL’ASTRE COME SI VEDE DAL DORSO DEL COLOSSO NON COPERTO DALLA SABBIA, E DALLE DICHE CHE CIRCONDA PIRAMIDE DA THE LATI, PAR CHE ERANO ISOLATE IN QUALCHE LAGO COME SI VEDE A SACCARA, E MERI IL CANALL IN OGGI RIPENO.

Clearing up at Evening. William Edwin Atkinson, (1862-1926).Canadian. ARSA, OSA. Oil on canvas. Signed, dated 1903. Titled on verso. Dimensions: 18.75" x 25.75".