An English marble portrait of an infant, possibly one of the Royal children

BY FRANCIS JOHN WILLIAMSON, ESHER, DATED 1884

Details

An English marble portrait of an infant, possibly one of the Royal children
By Francis John Williamson, Esher, Dated 1884
The child with rattle, supported on a tabouret, above a naturalistically carved base and shaped rectangular plinth, one canted corner inscribed F. J. WILLIAMSON, SC./ESHER. 1884
24½in. (62.3cm.) high; 29in. (73.7cm.) wide

Lot Essay

A one-time pupil of John Bell, and apprentice and then studio assistant to John Foley for over twenty years, Francis John Williamson (d. 1920) was the private sculptor to Queen Victoria during the 1880s and 1890s. For the Royal Family he executed large numbers of portrait busts in marble - Prince Alamaya of Abyssinia (signed and dated 1880); Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany and Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, at Osborne House; Arthur, Duke of Connaught (signed and dated 1885), and Alfred, Lord Tennyson (signed and dated 1893) at Windsor. Dating from Williamson's period as Royal sculptor, this tender portrait may well represent one of the Royal children.

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