A child's dream of Christmas

Details

Keeley Halswelle, A.R.S.A. (1832-1891)
A child's dream of Christmas
signed and dated 'KEELEY HALSWELLE. DELINEATOR. 1858.' (lower centre)
pen and black ink
30¾ x 25 3/8 in. (78.2 x 64.5 cm.)

Provenance

Anon. sale, Sotheby's, Belgravia, 11 November 1975, lot 36 (unsold).
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, Belgravia, 16 November 1976, lot 222 (£120).

Literature

Art Journal, 1879, p. 49.
S. Houfe, Dictionary of British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists 1800-1914, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1978, p. 330.

Exhibited

Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy, 1859, no. 675.
London, International Exhibition, Fine Art Department, British Division, 1862, no. 1406 as 'A Child's Dream'.

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.

Lot Essay

Halswelle was born at Richmond, Surrey of Scottish parents on 23 April 1832. After studying at the British Museum and Edinburgh, he embarked upon a career in book illustration in 1860, contributing to publications such as The Illustrated London News, (1860), Good Words, (1860), Pen and Pencil Pictures from the Poets, (1866) and Scott's Poems, c. (1866). While illustrating Robert Herrick's poems, he visited Edinburgh where he stayed, studying at the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1868 he moved to Rome for several years, also working in Paris. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1866 and a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour in 1882. He exhibited at the Royal Academy 1862-91 and the Royal Society of British Artists 1875-79. Both stylistically and in its fanciful subject matter his work is similar to that of the cartoonist and fairy illustrator Richard Doyle (1824-1883).

When the present drawing was exhibited at the International Exhibition, 1862 a place of honour was given to 'A Child's Dream'.

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