Lot Essay
Frederic James Shields was a Manchester painter, watercolourist and decorator, whose artistic career was determined when he saw the works of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood at the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857. Although he often worked in watercolour and for many years exhibited at the Royal Watercolour Society his two most substantial commissions were mural decorations for the Chapel of Eaton Hall, Cheshire, the seat of the Dukes of Westminster, and the Chapel of the Ascension, Bayswater Road.