Lot 1734
ATTRIBUTED TO BRITON RIVIERE, RA (1840-1920)
PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG LADY, PROBABLY MARY ALICE DOBELL (1844-1931), THE ARTIST'S WIFE
Bears later inscriptions on stretcher, Selina Williams nee (Dobell) (partially erased) and Alice Dobell/ painted/ by Briton Riviere, oil on canvas, mounted circular
39.5cm. diameter.
* Riviere married Alice Dobell in 1867. His works from the 1860s are scarce, even though he showed thirteen works at the Royal Academy during that decade. His preferred subject matter, which already owed a substantial debt to the anthropomorphic and sentimental style of Landseer, was in evidence and this `Pre-Raphaelite` subject is atypical. However, the link with the Dobell family is also made through a sibling: Briton's sister, Annette Louise (1837-1887) painted a portrait miniature of Nora Selina Dobell Williams (1841-1924) in 1885. A clear similarity between the sitter in the miniature and this portrait is not apparent.
