Collector's Journal — Art Research
Alfred de Breanski Jr at Lake Windermere: Light, Landscape and the A. Fontville Signature
Alfred de Breanski Jr Alfred Fontville Art Provenance Art Research British Art British Landscape Painting Collecting Fine Art Fine Art Lake District Lake Windermere
Signed “A. FONTVILLE” and titled Lake Windermere verso, this atmospheric early twentieth-century landscape leads into the story of Alfred Fontville de Breanski Jr., his exhibition career, alternative signature and fascination with changing natural light.
Oliver Clare: Blossom, Blue Eggs and the Victorian Bird’s Nest
19th Century Art Art Provenance Art Research Bird's Nest Painting British Art British Artists Collecting Fine Art Floral Still Life George Clare Haynes Fine Art Oliver Clare Still Life Painting Victorian Art Victorian Painting Vincent Clare
Explore the remarkable natural world of Victorian painter Oliver Clare through Still Life of Blossom and a Bird’s Nest, c.1880–1890 — a signed oil with four mysterious blue eggs, characteristic mossy-bank detail and historic Haynes Fine Art provenance.
The Sinking of Yamato: Eric Tufnell and the Final Sortie of Japan’s Great Battleship
7 April 1945 Art Research Battle of the East China Sea Battleship Yamato Captain Kosaku Aruga Collectors Journal Commander Eric Tufnell Eric Tufnell Historical Art Imperial Japanese Navy Japanese Battleships Maritime Art Naval History Naval Painting Naval Watercolour Okinawa Operation Ten-Go Pacific War Parker Gallery Provenance Research Royal Navy Second World War Vice Admiral Seiichi Ito WW2 Naval Art Yahagi Yamato
In 1963, Royal Navy Commander and marine artist Eric Tufnell painted the destruction of Yamato during Operation Ten-Go, only eighteen years after the battle. The original Parker Gallery correspondence and invoice survive, documenting the commission for a private collector.
Lady Lucy Montagu: An Early Georgian Portrait and the Circle of John Vanderbank
18th Century Portraits Art Research British Art Collectors Journal Georgian Portraiture John Vanderbank Lady Guilford Lady Lucy Montagu Lord North Old Master Paintings Provenance
Lady Lucy Montagu, Lady Guilford, lived only twenty-five years, yet her story became entwined with one of the most significant periods in British history. We explore an early Georgian portrait attributed to the Circle of John Vanderbank, its connections with the North family, and the evidence surrounding the sitter’s identity and attribution.
Mrs George Wood Portrait | John Wood Victorian Art 1857
1857 19th Century Art Art Research British Art British Portraiture Collectors Journal Family Portrait Family Provenance Hansons Auctioneers Historical Portrait John Wood John Wood Artist Mrs George Wood Provenance Research Sarah Sophia Clark Sarah Sophia Wood Victorian Art Victorian Portrait Victorian Portraiture Victorian Women
Painted in 1857 and preserved through family descent, this intimate Victorian portrait traditionally depicts Sarah Sophia Wood, née Clark, revealing how inscriptions, inherited identity and family provenance can preserve a sitter’s story across generations.
