James Macbeth (Scottish, 1847-1891) - Portrait of a young wo...

Hammer

£2,000

James Macbeth (Scottish, 1847-1891) - Portrait of a young woman listening to a seashell - Watercolour and gouache - 60 x 49.5cm - 77.5 x 67cm framed - Monogrammed and dated 1874 lower left - The artist's label attached to the backing with his address and title 'No. 1 A Portrait' - Exhibiting at the Royal Academy in years 1872-84, as well as other major London venues, Macbeth specialised in landscape paintings. This evocative watercolour portrait, atypical for the artist's most well-known oeuvre, encapsulates all of the quintessential features of the Aesthetic Movement in British art - from the richly embroidered Oriental dress of the sitter, to the peacock feathers emerging from the upper right corner. Perhaps referencing an earlier work by the great Victorian painter Frederic Leighton, 'Echoes' (Bonhams, 29 March 2023, lot 42), Macbeth's portrait synthesises both the style and emblems of Aestheticism.