The May Queen, Dated 1877 By Valentine Cameron Prinsep (1838-1904)

The Queen Of May, dated 1877

by Valentine Cameron PRINSEP (1838-1904) to $180,000

Large 19th Century English pre-Raphaelite portrait of a young girl as May Queen, oil on canvas by Valentine Cameron Prinsep. Excellent quality and condition large example of the famous painters work depicting a young girl at three quarter length standing in a sunlit field with an almost solemn expression. Signed and presented in its original antique gilt frame. (we can quote for frame restoration)

Measurements: 51" x 37" framed approx

Artist Biography

Valentine Cameron Prinsep was introduced to painting by his friend George Frederick Watts. He visited Gleyre in Paris and worked there alongside Whistler and Poynter. In 1859 Prinsep did the rounds of Italy in the company of Burne-Jones, meeting Robert Browning in the process. He met Rossetti and was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite movement as a whole. His Kensington home, Little Holland House, became a meeting place for artists and writers, including Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Thackeray, Tennyson, Browning and Trollope. His own style is reminiscent of that of Leighton.

Prinsep was elected to associate membership of the Royal Academy in 1878 and to full membership in 1894. He was awarded a bronze at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. In 1900 he was appointed Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy.
Museum and Gallery Holdings

Hamburg: Tending Geese; Leonora of Mantua
London (National Portrait Gal.): George Heming Mason (c. early 1860s, oil on canvas)
London (Royal Academy of Arts): The Revolution (1896, oil on canvas, competition piece)
London (Tate Collection): Ayesha (exhibited in 1887, oil on canvas)
Manchester (City AG): The Queen was in the Parlour, Eating Bread and Honey (exhibited 1860, oil on panel); At the Golden Gate (c. 1882, oil on canvas); Cinderella (exhibited 1899, oil on canvas)
Sheffield: Soap Bubbles; Versailles: Scene of the French Revolution
Torquay (Torre Abbey Historic House and Gal.): Sir Francis Layland-Barratt (oil on canvas); Lady Layland-Barratt (oil on canvas)
Bibliography

Marsh, Jan: The Pre-Raphaelite Circle, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2005.