Two reliefs: Charity; and Mother and Children

Details

ROBERT ANNING BELL, R.A. (1863-1933)
Two reliefs: Charity; and Mother and Children
the first, signed with initials, numbered and dated 'R A B/Oct 01/No. 6/coloured 1907' (upper right); the second, signed, numbered and dated 'R. AN BELL/1906/No. 2' (upper left)
plaster relief, coloured and gilt
Charity: 19 ½ x 11 ¼ in. (49.5 x 28.6 cm.)
Mother and Children: 16 x 12 ½ (40.7 x 31.8 cm.)
(2)each framed

Provenance

Charity: The Bowser family, Argatty, Stirlingshire.
with The Fine Art Society, London, March 1985, where purchased for the present collection.
Mother and Children: with The Fine Art Society, London, April 1982, where purchased for the present collection.

Literature

P. Rose, ‘The Coloured Relief Decoration of Robert Anning Bell’, The Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 1850 - the Present, no. 14, London, 1990, pp. 22-23.
P. Rose, ‘"The Honour of Old England" The English Contribution to the Turin International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts 1902’, The Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 1850 - the Present, no. 20, London,1996, p. 51, fig. 12 (Charity).
B. Coleman, The Best of British Arts & Crafts, Atglen, PA, 2004, p. 226 (Mother and Children).

Exhibited

Charity: London, Barbican Art Gallery, The Last Romantics: The Romantic Tradition in British Art, Burne-Jones to Stanley Spencer, 9 February - 9 April 1989, no. 247.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Adrian Hume-Sayer Director, Specialist

Lot Essay

A cast of Charity was shown in Anning Bell's exhibition at The Fine Art Society in 1907 (no. 39). As Bell wrote in the catalogue for the show 'the reliefs can be repeated, the issue being limited to fifteen examples of each subject, worked upon, coloured and numbered by the Artist'. The present example, numbered 6, was made in 1901 but not coloured until 1907. Where more than one cast of a relief is known, it appears the colour schemes often varied dramatically.

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