Beschreibung:

‡Frank O. Salisbury (1874-1962) Sweetening the Hay Signed, and further titled, inscribed FRANK O. SALISBURY/62 avenue Rd/NW8, and with oil sketch of figure to verso Oil on canvas 108 x 194cm Provenance: By descent from the artist Frank O. Salisbury was one of the greatest society artists of his age, know as 'Britain's Painter Laureate'. Since 2013 Woolley and Wallis have had the pleasure of selling a group of Salisbury's work which were kept by the artist in his personal collection, and have been passed down to his descendants. The selection of paintings offered here are the last of this collection, and were clearly deeply personal and important to Salisbury. Although he frequently depicted historical subjects, it is perhaps portraiture for which Salisbury is best known, and the list of his sitters is long and distinguished. Six American presidents and twenty-five members of the British royal family sat for him, and no-one painted Winston Churchill more. However, his most frequent subjects were his family, in particular his twin daughters. Salisbury relates in his memoirs how they sat for him for an hour each morning when they were young, and they are the models in some of his most successful early works, such as Field Mice (lot 27). By 1932 Salisbury was so successful on both sides of the Atlantic that he was able to build Sarum Chase, a neo-Tudor mansion in Hampstead. He filled the walls with his own work, in both fresco and oil. A photograph of the gallery at Sarum Chase shows the artist seated below one of his portraits of George VI, flanked by portrayals of his twins in bridal dress, Monica (lot 29) and Sylvia (sold Woolley and Wallis, 5 June 2013, lot 440). Salisbury continued to be in great demand throughout his life, receiving commissions for both historical subject and portraits. However, the collection of paintings offered here are works that he opted to keep and decorate his home with, and both the portraits and the allegorical works held deep significance for him. Read more »