Fine Art

I recently acquired an oil painting, from the sticker on the back I deduced that it was from the late 1800s or early 1900s.:

The National Portrait Gallery of England has this bio of James:

James Lanham 1869-1907, James Lanham Ltd from 1907 onwards, High St, St Ives, Cornwall. Artists' colourmen, picture framemakers etc.

James Lanham (1848-1931) founded his business in 1869, trading as a general merchant. He has been described as well travelled, visiting the major art galleries of Europe, and he became an important part of the artists’ community in St Ives, holding regular Saturday afternoon tea meetings for leading artists. In 1912, Lanham sold the business to Benjamin Bramham, who in 1919 sold it on to Martin Cock, great-grandfather of the present owners. The Articles of Association from 1907 record the business as a wine and spirit merchant, house and estate agent, dealer in artists’ materials, general and fancy furnisher. Lanham was buried in Barnoon Cemetery in St Ives, where his gravestone gives his date of birth as 29 October 1848 and of death as 29 May 1931 (information from David Tovey, confirmed on site; however, note that the 1881 and 1891 censuses imply that he was born c.1843/4). Lanham was listed as a retired shop-keeper in the 1921 census. He left an estate worth £10,737, with probate granted to Helen, his widow.

James Lanham was listed in Cornwall directories as ‘Fancy Repository & tobacconist’ in 1873, and ‘Ale & Porter Merchant’ and ‘Wine & Spirit Merchant’ in 1883. The business did not become an artists' colourman with associated Gallery until 1887. The entry in Kelly’s Cornwall directory in 1889 reveals the very wide range of the business as ‘Artists’ colourman, china, glass and earthen ware dealer, general ironmonger & cutler, general draper & furniture dealer, & ale & porter bottler…, wine & spirit merchants’. Lanham’s Galleries were one of the few places where local artists could show their works. The artist Norman Garstin described Lanham’s shop in The Studio in 1896:

‘In the main street of St. Ives there is a shop, though I cannot help feeling that emporium best describes the variety of the goods and the far-reaching enterprise of the proprietor… from it a stream of colours that are ground in London, Paris, Dusseldorf and Brussels, are for ever trickling in slow rivulets, or flowing in rich streams, as the energy and style of the painters require, into the various studios of the town… As you advance through the shop the gloom somewhat deepens, but one is conscious of being closely surrounded by many things without which life would still be endurable. Just beyond use there is a little room [where] the colours and the canvases as yet are kept discreetly apart… On the left… there are stairs somewhat like the companion of an aesthetic ship, decorated with Florentine photographs, Botticellis, &c.; this leads on to the upper deck, to the gallery in fact. Here, under an awning that softens the strong glare of the sky-light, you find a very charming little show, always fresh and interesting.’

Whistler visited St Ives in 1884 and it is said that he encouraged James Lanham to stock artists' materials since otherwise he had to send away for paints. Alfred Munnings wrote in his autobiography of the beautiful canvases he obtained from Lanham's including one on 'an absorbent, china-clay priming… a tribute to the canvases prepared in those days at St Ives'. Lanham, 'that excellent artists' caterer', apparently made it his business to supply the Newlyn School of Painting, set up in 1899, which he visited once a week for that purpose.

The painting is extremely delicate, the paint flakes off at the slightest touch. I scanned it and retouched it in Photoshop:

A closeup of the Victorian maiden, lifting her hair as she undresses (click to enlarge):