A Study of Flowers

Physical description

A study of a loosely-tied bouquet of mixed wildflowers (including wild roses) against a neutral background.

Place of Origin

Great Britain, UK (painted)

Date

1846 (painted)

Artist/maker

Wallis, George (FSA), born 1811 - died 1891 (painter (artist))

Materials and Techniques

Oil on canvas

Marks and inscriptions

'G/Wallis/1846'

Dimensions

Height: 48.2 cm approx., Width: 35.5 cm approx.

Object history note

Purchased, 1891.

Descriptive line

Oil Painting, 'A Study of flowers', George Wallis FSA, 1846

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990, p. 291
The following is the full text of the entry:

"Born Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, 8 June 1811, trained as a coach and heraldic painter before practising as an artist in Manchester 1832-7. Entered Government School of Design 1841; headmaster of Schools of Art at Spitalfields 1843, Manchester 1844 and Birmingham 1851. Organised first exhibition in England of art manufactures at Royal Institution, Manchester, and gave first course of lectures on principles of decorative art 1845. Worked on Great Exhibition 1851 and International Exhibition 1862. Visited USA 1853. Appointed to South Kensington Museum 1858, Keeper of Art 1863, retiring a month before he died; promoted the circulation of works of art from South Kensington to provincial museums. Contributed to the Art Journal, lectured extensively, and published several books, from On the Cultivation of a Popular Taste in the Fine Arts (1839) to British Art, Pictorial, Decorative, and Industrial: a Fifty Years' Retrospect (1882). Elected FSA 1878. The catalogue of the 1919 exhibition of his paintings states that he exhibited at the RA and BI; he may be the G Wallis whose only exhibit was a 'View of Cardigan Bay' at the RA in 1872 (several Welsh scenes were in the 1919 show). Died Wimbledon, London, 24 October 1891; his daughter Rosa was a flower and watercolour painter, his sons George H and Sir Whitworth Wallis were directors of the Bethnal Green Museum and then (respectively) the Nottingham and Birmingham Museums. His studio sale was at Christie's 22 February 1892. His portrait by Alphonse Legros is in the V&A collections (896-1892), as is an etched self-portrait (E5750-1906).
LIT: Art Journal 1891, p384 (obit with portrait); Magazine of Art XV, December 1891, p69 (obit with portrait); Catalogue of Works by the late George Wallis ... exhibition catalogue with biographical introduction, Municipal Art Gallery and Museum, Wolverhampton, 1919

A Study of Flowers
664-1891 Neg GA1201
Canvas, 48.2 X 35.5 cm (19 X 14 ins) Signed and dated 'G/Wallis/1846' br Purchased 1891
Presumably purchased in the year of his death to commemorate the artist's long association with the South Kensington Museum, it had possibly been painted for teaching and demonstration purposes. The artist's studio sale included a copy after a l7th-century still-life, and two flower pieces by the Mutrie sisters.

EXH: Works by the late George Wallis ... Municipal Art Gallery and Museum, Wolverhampton, 1919(8)

Ronald Parkinson"

Materials

Oil paint; Canvas

Techniques

Oil painting

Subjects depicted

Flowers

Categories

Paintings

Collection code

PDP