Figure 1.--This unidentified English portrait shows a boy who about 7-8 years old. He wears a double-breasted black jacket with a high collar. There is not the slighest hint of color. There seems to be white vest worn with a white neck wrap and bow. We are not sure how to describe his hair. Sureky grey is not the actual color. It clearly comes fom the early-19th century. We are not sure about the date, but would guess the 1810s, but without any real conviction.

Most of the unidentified artists we have found come from the 19th century. This is no accident. Art in contrast to popular assumptions is in part a function of economic activity. This is a primary reason that much of the world's great art comes from rich, economically successful civilizations. And this was just what was happening in Europe. The Industrial Revloution which began in England (mid-19th century) was generating unprecesented wealth. For the first time in human hostory, not just a few aristocrats (usully land owners) or wealthy merchants, but large numbers of common people could lead comfortable lives. The size of the bourgeois (middle-class) exploded. And the middle class were able to afford modest luxuries. And one of those countries were portaits of themselves and their family. The middle-class could not afford to commission the great artists of the age, but they could afford the more modest fees works by untraimed primitive or naive artists. Most of this we see in the first half of the century because with the advent of photography, portraits could be had at modest cost. Thus in the forst halr of the cntury, art is one of the major fashion sources. We see far fewer painted portraits in the second half of the century, especially porttaits of unidentified artists.

Unidentified Artist (England, early 19th century)

All we know about this portrait is who the subject was. We note a portrait of Edward Ollerenshaw painted by an unknown artist. We have no idea who the artist was. Edward was the son of Edward Ollerenshaw thus he was Edward Jr. Edward Jr was the Great-great uncle of Lord Sauderson (spelling indestincr). There are some question marks on the label so apparently the identification is somewhat uncertain. The portrait is undated. It looks to us based on the ruffled collar that Edward had his portrait taken in the early 19th century. We are, however, somewhat confused. Edward's jacket, however, does not look at all like a skeleton suit which was in fashion at the time. Ferhaps the portrait older then we think, we are just not sure.

Unidentified Artist (England, 1810s?)

This is a fascinating portrait of four children, almost certainly brothers and sisters. They look very sweet and are well dressed in period Regency clothing. It is a typical "family snapshot" from an era before photography and shows the children at their best. A very skillfully painted work with an absolutely lovely motif. Unfortunately the portrait is unsigned. It is, however, to believed to be a British artist. The medium is oil on copper sheet. The painting is 7"/17.5cm wide and 8"/20cm high. The painting is from the early 19th century. We would guess the 1810s, but are not sure. All of the children wear dresses and have short hair cuts. We believe two are girls and two are boys.

Unidentified Artist (England, 1810s)

This unidentified English portrait shows a boy who about 7-8 years old (figure 1). He wears a double-breasted black jacket with a high collar. There is not the slighest hint of color. There seems to be white vest worn with a white neck wrap and bow. We are not sure how to describe his hair. Sureky grey is not the actual color. It clearly comes fom the early-19th century. We are not sure about the date, but would guess the 1810s, but without any real conviction.

Unidentified Artist (England, 1830s)

This is an early 19th century pastel portrait of an unidentified boy. The portrait is undated, but was probanly painted in the 1830s. It came from a home in The Cathedral Close in Salisbury. Presumably the portait was one of the ancestors of the family. The portrait looks to be the work of an unidentified naive artist. While not a great work of art, it shows the boys clothing in detail. He wears a blue dress with a low neckline and white trim. The dress also has baloon sleeves.

Unidentified Artist (England, 1837)

We note a portrait of William Henry Manly. We know that he was an English boy and that he was 9 years old when his portrait was taken in 1837. Other than that we know nothing about the the portrait. This includes who the artist was. Hw was clearly a very competent artist. We would imagine that he was a trained artist.

Unidentified Artist (about 1840)

Here we have an unidentified English oil portrait. It is clearly a mid-19th century portrait. We would guess it was paunted about 1840, but would welcome any reader insights here. The potrait shoes a boy about 10 years old with his dog. The boy is well drawn, but the dog more amateurishly. It is a useful portrait because his clothes are so well illustrated. He wears a short black jacket and white blouse. The blouse has an open collar with wide pointed tips. As was common at the time he ears long trousers in a contrasting color. White seemds to have been a popular color. The boy is clearly from an affluent family. Both the clothes and the fact he had his portrait painted demonstrate this,

Unidentified Artist (England, 1840s?)

This painting looks modern in style when you first see it from a distance, especially the vibrant colours, almost like a photograph of manequins. The girl's clothes show it to be early 19th century--perhaps the 1840s. Hopefully an expertbon girls' dresses will help us date it. Note the boy's hunting outfit is the same as worn by the modern "blood sport" crowd. Unfortunately I do not know who the artist was. The painting was first attributed to a Swiss artist before finally being attributed to a little known English painter.

Unidentified Artist (England, mid-19th century)

Here we have a portait of three children, presumably broyhers and sisters. The children are not identified, but look to be teen agers. Nor is the portait dated. We would guess that it was painted in thee 1830s or very early 40s. That is, however, only a guess and we would be interested in any insights readers might offer. The boys wears a large white collar with pointed tips. The painting is a little indestinct to evaluate the clothing very closely. The black color of the boy's suit seems in keeping with the fashion of the Victorian era. In sharp contrast to the boy's modest outfit, the girls wear low cut dresses and colorful dresses. The portrait is unsigned. One agent suggested the artist was Sir Thomas Lawrence. It seems to me that the depictions are not up to Lawrene's standard, but we do not pretend to be art experts.

Unidentified Artist (England, mid-19th century)

This is a wondeful unsigned oil portait we believe of an English school boy. We believe it was painted inthe mid-19th century, in part because photographic portraits became more common in the late-19th century. The portrait is difficult to date because some school uniforms did not change for centuries and thus did not reflect contemporary style. The boy wears a black outfit with a clerical collar. We believe this is a school uniform. There were a number of schools, the famed hospital schools that had these historic uniforms. I thought, however, they were blue. I'm not sure what school had a black uniform. Hopefully our British readers will know more. A note from April 1920 on the reverse tells that the painting was the property of a Mr. Edward White. We windr if he or a relative might be the boy in the portrait.

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Created: 2:37 AM 8/22/2017
Last updated: 2:37 AM 8/22/2017