Arthur Miles 1862: Portrait Of An English Gentleman

Victorian era, portrait of a British gentleman, oil on canvas signed by the English artist Arthur Miles. Dated 1862, in its gilded wooden frame. A painter born in South London, Miles perfectly represents his subject according to the codes in force. The protagonist, aged around fifty, is shown seated at home in a red upholstered armchair. Dressed in the fashion of the time, with a discreet ring on his left little finger, he holds in his right hand a green book, particularly highlighted. The choice of this book, whose title is perceptible: "Charter of the Royal Botanical Society of London 1839" tells us about the personality of the subject. Certainly a founder of the Royal Botanical Society of London (1839-1931). Created in this year of 1839, it brings together several enthusiasts and botanists as famous as they were influential during the period, a circle of the intelligentsia eager to promote in the field, both knowledge and research. Our subject, thus posing, three-quarters, of a certain age and confident, thus delivers to the spectator and to posterity all the work of his life, his involvement as well as his accomplishment. Other details, such as his plumpness, allow us, with a more current eye to discern the underlying codes of an immortalized social success. The concern for realism, placed in the physical details of the subject, far from suggesting old age, rather testifies to a wisdom acquired over the years, accompanied by a notable financial success for the period.
Notes: Arthur Miles was a renowned British Victorian portrait painter and painter born in Lambeth (south London) on 10 January 1827 and died in Stroud Green (north London) on 22 June 1904. He was the son of Thomas Miles, a composer and music teacher, and the brother of Leonidas Clint Miles (1839–1898), a landscape painter. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy between 1851 and 1872, at the British Institution between 1862 and 1867 and at the Royal Society of British Artists between 1859 and 1880. One of his works is in the National Gallery, London.
Sources: Benezit, Dictionary of Artists; The Dictionary of British Artists 1880–1940; The Dictionary of Victorian Painters; British and Irish Paintings in Public Collections; Kurt von Gerolstein: Arthur Miles, Victorian Artist (2021).

Conditions: very good condition
Dimensions: Frame height: 69 cm Frame width: 59 cm
HST height: 54 cm HST width: 44 cm