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Henry Major (1829-1902). Pre-Raphaelite Still Life. browse these categories for related items... All Items: Fine Art:Paintings:Oil:Europe:British: Pre 1900: item # 870663 Please refer to our stock # 2483B when inquiring.
Raymond Agler Fine Arts 16 Pleasant Street Gloucester, Massachusetts 01930 978-281-5048 Guest Book $4,500 |
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| Oil on canvas, 12 x 14 inches, 17.75 x 19.5 framed, signed and dated "H.A. Major 1888" lower right. Known as the "Postman Artist", the talented Mr. Major was a letter-carrier in London for some 27 years. He was also an accomplished violinist, an actor and a playwright, with over 20 plays to his credit. As this and related works attest, he was a master of the intimate, meticulously-rendered still life in the true-to-nature mode beloved by the Pre-Raphaelites. Here is a rustic cache of pears, grapes and a plum on a woodland floor. A wasp, housefly and beetle enliven the scene, a borrowing from the 17th century Dutch masters whose bountiful fruit and flower pieces often included a variety of butterflies and other insects charged with symbolic significance. In its coverage of the Working Men's Exhibition of 1866, "The Athenaeum"'s critic noted: "...Mr. Major again comes out with a most meritorious fruit piece, "The Uninvited Visitors to the Dessert" a work of such excellence as to make it a duty on the part of the critic to encourage him to court a higher rivalry than mere amateurs..." Sadly, the doors of the Royal Academy were almost universally shut to those lacking academic training and Major's paintings were dispersed without the recognition they so obviously deserved. (I am deeply indebted to the artist's great-great grandson, Mr. John Major, for sharing his extensive research). | ||
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