Portrait of a young girl with flushed cheeks

Details

Helen Mary Elizabeth Allingham, R.W.S. (1848-1926)
Portrait of a young girl with flushed cheeks
signed 'H.Allingham' (lower left) and dated '1878' (lower right)
watercolour with scratching out
4 x 3 3/8 in. (10.2 x 8.6 cm.)

Provenance

with The Fine Art Society, London.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis. Please note Payments and Collections will be unavailable on Monday 12th July 2010 due to a major update to the Client Accounting IT system. For further details please call +44 (0) 20 7839 9060 or e-mail info@christies.com

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

Following her marriage in 1874, Helen Allingham, gave up her career with The Graphic, and she began experimenting with watercolours, mostly in the form of portraits of young children, from her Chelsea studio.

John Ruskin was clearly unimpressed. In The Art of England he described Mrs Allingham's portraits as 'uninteresting miniatures'. However, there were many who did not share his view as they were her main source of income. In 1880 an enquirer was informed by the artist that she charged 25 guineas.

Portrait subjects ranged from young girls and boys, to elderly village folk as well as high-profile individuals, such as Lord Tennyson and Thomas Carlyle.

Christie's would like to thank Annabel Watts for her assistance in compiling this catalogue note.

More from Victorian and British Impressionist Art

View All