Edward Charles Barnes (British, active between 1855-1882)

Oil on canvas, signed lower left.

Painting size: 24” x 20”
Frame size: 30.5”x 26.5”

Edward Barnes typically executed small genre scenes, but here he explores that favorite Victorian subject, a beautiful woman in sumptuous dress musing to herself (no doubt) about an unresolved romantic problem.

Barnes’ technical skill is evident in his tactile rendering of details: the pillowy fur edging the collar of the woman’s low-cut dress; the smooth sheen of her pearl necklace; the soft petals of the rose in her hand. With delicate fingers she plucks the flower, perhaps in a game of “he loves me/ loves me not,” or in a reverie on the transience of youth or beauty or love.

Barnes frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy, the British Institution and the Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street, between 1855 and 1882, indicating that his work merited considerable recognition among his professional contemporaries. He is listed in the Dictionary of British Art, Volume IV: Victorian Painters (Wood, 1995) and the Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs Dessinateurs et Graveurs (Bénézit, 1999).