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Lot Essay
'When one realizes the short span of years that was allowed to Charles Furse, one is impressed by the stride with which towards the last he neared some very high aim.' wrote John Singer Sargent lamenting his friend and painting companion's dazzling, but short lived career.
Charles Wellington Furse was born in 1868, the third son of a vicar, later Archdeacon of Westminster and Jane Diane Monsell. His brother was the sculptor John H. M. Furse. He studied at the Slade under Alphonse Legros, where he took a scholarship, in Paris at the Académie Juliene and at Westminster School of Art under Fred Brown. After Westminster he exhibited widely, including at The Royal Academy and The New English Arts Club as well as public commissions such as decorations for Liverpool Town Hall (1899-1901). He also lectured on many subjects ranging from Velazquez and Rembrandt through to eighteenth century portraiture and G. F. Watts. His work shows the influence of many of these painters and is firmly in the 'Swagger Portrait' tradition which was enjoying a late flowering exemplified in the work of John Singer Sargent. Illness had plagued Furse's life and he died in 1904, aged 36, shortly after completing his masterpiece Diana of the Uplands (London, Tate Britain).
Jean Miller Hamilton (nee Muir) was the daughter of a Glasgow businessman and in 1894 married General Ian Montieth Hamilton (1853-1947). In 1902 he was knighted for his service as Lord Kitchener's Chief of Staff during the Boer War (1899-1902). During the First World War he commanded the ill-fated Mediterranean Expeditionary Force during the Battle of Gallipoli.
Charles Wellington Furse was born in 1868, the third son of a vicar, later Archdeacon of Westminster and Jane Diane Monsell. His brother was the sculptor John H. M. Furse. He studied at the Slade under Alphonse Legros, where he took a scholarship, in Paris at the Académie Juliene and at Westminster School of Art under Fred Brown. After Westminster he exhibited widely, including at The Royal Academy and The New English Arts Club as well as public commissions such as decorations for Liverpool Town Hall (1899-1901). He also lectured on many subjects ranging from Velazquez and Rembrandt through to eighteenth century portraiture and G. F. Watts. His work shows the influence of many of these painters and is firmly in the 'Swagger Portrait' tradition which was enjoying a late flowering exemplified in the work of John Singer Sargent. Illness had plagued Furse's life and he died in 1904, aged 36, shortly after completing his masterpiece Diana of the Uplands (London, Tate Britain).
Jean Miller Hamilton (nee Muir) was the daughter of a Glasgow businessman and in 1894 married General Ian Montieth Hamilton (1853-1947). In 1902 he was knighted for his service as Lord Kitchener's Chief of Staff during the Boer War (1899-1902). During the First World War he commanded the ill-fated Mediterranean Expeditionary Force during the Battle of Gallipoli.