Completed South East England: Artists and Subjects 32 Who painted 'Upper Library, Christ Church, Oxford'?

As we have often found here before, where there is a signature, a higher-res image can solve things quickly. It could perhaps be something like 'Simpson' or 'Skipwith', but there seems little point in guessing until we can see more clearly.

The signature is probably of Frank Markham Skipworth [1854-1929]

Attached is a signature from a known Skipworth portrait.

Other than an short entries in various directories, I find little biographical information about this artist.

Title Who's who: An Annual Biographical Dictionary
Contributors Henry Robert Addison, Charles Henry Oakes, William John Lawson, Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen
Publisher A. & C. Black, 1904
Pages 1408-1409

Title The Royal Academy of Arts: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and Their Work from Its Foundation in 1769 to 1904, Volume 7
The Royal Academy of Arts: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and Their Work from Its Foundation in 1769 to 1904, Algernon Graves
Author Algernon Graves
Publisher H. Graves and Company, Limited, 1906
Page 149-150

http://www.mocavo.com/Whos-Who-1914/302604/1963

His wife, Alison Groom(e) Markham, fared better, most notably:

Title Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties
Author Axel Nissen
Edition illustrated
Publisher McFarland, 2007
ISBN 0786427469, 9780786427468
Length 248 pages
Pages 189-196

As she was one of his most important models before her beauty faded, it would be an interesting exercise to identify paintings in which she appeared.

The librarian or archivist of Christ Church College, Oxford might just have a record of this early twentieth century picture.
As Osmund says , a higher resolution image of the signature might enable a better reading of the signature. The possibility that the artist is not F M Skipworth remains as this sort of architectural interior is an unusual subject for him.

Could it be by Frederick Hawkesworth S. Shepherd?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/interior-of-the-wren-library-134810

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/interior-of-the-kings-library-british-museum-191645

This suggestion of Andrea has a lot to recommend it

Indeed it does. I was initially much taken with your reading, Martin, despite the painting being unlike any other Skipworth I could find. But the form of the signature found by Bruce rather threw that into doubt.

A slight tweak of the signature image (attached) does reveal it is pretty likely to be "F. H. Shepherd". Although we have as yet no other close-up Shepherd signature for comparison, other works on Your Paintings indicate his style and subject matter as being very much closer to the mark - and also that he painted at both Oxford & Cambridge Universities. Several of them do seem to have signatures: perhaps we could get a higher-res image of one of them?

The clincher for me, though, is that Shepherd was in fact educated at Christ Church, Oxford, the subject of this work. Frederick Hawkesworth Sinclair Shepherd was born at Stoke sub Hamdon, Somerset in early 1877, son of the local vicar (who died when Fredk was seven); he died at Chelsea, London, on 23rd May 1948. He would have been up at Oxford in the 1890s, though I think this was painted a good while later than that.

I'm also attaching his obituary from The Times, which gives some detail of his artistic career. He exhibited at both the RA & the NEAC - the quality of this work, which I like very much indeed, suggests there is a good chance it was shown at one or the other.

Gorringes sold one with a legible signature in February of 2014. Perhaps they have a better resolution photo showing the signature.

http://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/f.h.-shepherd-b.1877-the-fairy-story-,-21-x-18-1114-c-976fa735b7

I should add the above refers to a painting by F. H. Newton Shepherd, not F. H. Sinclair Shepherd.

The Kirklees Museums and Galleries have another painting by F.H.S Sheperd, maybe they could provide an image of the signature for comparison too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/figure-study-group-of-women-22133

Thank you for the interesting discussion. F.H.S. Shepherd is already represented in our collection, we have two works on one canvas (he utilised both sides).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-music-room-22290
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/figure-study-group-of-women-22133

However, 'The Music Room' is signed in capitals (left hand corner) and bears no resemblance to the signature on the other work - sadly I don't have a clear image of the signature to upload.

Or from this one, also in their collection
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-music-room-22290

I think the 'Invaluable' database has got Fredk Hawkesworth Sinclair Shepherd confused with an illustrator called 'F. H. Newton Shepherd'. I doubt the latter is on the rear label of the Gorringes picture, as Gorringes themselves just catalogued it as 'F. H. Shepherd' (with the correct year of birth for FHSS). There is a brief mention of Newton Shepherd in Houfe's Dictionary of 19th Century British Book Illustrators - a few illustrations by him/her are known from three magazines 1898-1902; but I can find no trace anywhere else - even as just an ordinary citizen - and there seems no reason to associate him/her with FHSS.

The signature inconsistency is frustrating: as well as Kirklees' 'Music Room', the Gorringe's painting looks to be signed in capitals. I imagine most of the works on Your Paintings are signed somewhere, but at low resolution I'm only sure about two: the Atkinson's 'Grey Day, Venice', which has a cursive/lower case signature (?and date) LL; and Bury's 'The Music Party', which (with some tweaking) appears to have an inscription LR:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/grey-day-venice-66275 and http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-music-party-164455

Thank you for the clarification, Osmund. I could not understand the name discrepancy as the painting style appeared so similar.

I looked for other examples of his work, but all I found are signed in capitals, too.

The first attachment, Head of a Young Girl, was published in The Studio Vol. 62. The two other examples are also from The Studio (Vol. 52) , which published an article 'The Interior Pictures and Landscapes of F.H.S. Shepherd' in 1911 (nothing interesting in there concerning this painting). https://archive.org/stream/internationalstu43newy#page/n59/mode/2up

None of the paintings I have seen so far is dated, so - at the moment -there is also no possibility to see if or how his signature developed over time. Maybe it is an early work, he received his Bachelor in Art in 1899 from Corpus Christi.

I am planning a visit to Kirklees during July and will take the opportunity to view this painting -- as it can never hurt to view the original.

This anonymous work at All Souls is likely the same hand (same size too).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/all-souls-college-hall-221570

I am satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that this work should be attributed to Frederick Hawkesworth Sinclair Shepherd (1877-1948). Such an attribution is consistent with an example I inspected of this artist's work some years ago. The support given in this discussion to this identification leads me to recommend that Art UK should present this conclusion to the Collection for adoption.

The collection has been contacted about this recommendation.

Comparing this work to the other works by Shepherd in our collection, I remain unconvinced that they are by the same artist. There is still the difference between the signatures. I wouldn't be confident in confirming the attribution.

Can I ask if the signature crop Martin showed us at the beginning of the discussion derives from the highest-resolution image of the painting held by Art UK? If there is in fact a higher-res version on file, would Kirklees be prepared to allow a bottom R H corner crop of that to be posted here (though I imagine they will, with very good reason, not want one of the whole picture published)? Even the electronic tweak of Martin's one I posted before (and which I attach again) looks very like 'F H Shepherd', and with a bit more size the reading might become less disputable. (Alternatively, of course, a well-lit digital snap of it - flash is probably OK if taken obliquely - might do the trick.)

A message for Richard (Green), if you're around: you said you were planning to view the original painting last July - did you in fact get a chance to do so?

Sorry, forgot to attach the tweaked/enlarged signature.

Right, belay that request - we no longer need the signature.

Shepherd was a prolific exhibitor, especially in London - Johnson & Greutzner record almost 500 works up to 1940 (and he lived till '48), 80% of them at NEAC, Goupil, Beaux Arts and Chenil. A NEAC book I have lists only to 1917, and there was nothing there that seemed even the right sort of subject. So, still feeling like Grant that this was one of his, and working on the hypothesis that these more or less empty interiors with slightly looser handling might be from later years - an idea that the British Museum's 1931 'Interior of the King's Library' ( http://bit.ly/2ql2e3c ) seemed to support, and which would explain the change of signature - I paid a flying visit to the NAL yesterday and got lucky very quickly.

In Oct-Nov 1928 the Beaux Arts Gallery held an exhibition of his paintings, the first half-dozen being all of this type - and, lo and behold, no.4 is 'The Library, Christchurch, Oxford'. Even more helpfully, its quality earned it an illustration - one of only two in the catalogue. Image attached, along with a pdf of the catalogue. So Kirklees can put their misgivings to rest; and winding back two years, congratulations to Andrea Kollmann for her excellent call.

Just as interestingly, two more Oxford works on Art UK by unknown artists can now be identified with some certainty - 'Interior of Brasenose Hall, Looking East' http://bit.ly/2s5W17w is no.2 in the catalogue, and (as previously suggested by Tim Williams) 'All Souls College Hall' http://bit.ly/2qY730M is no.5. Moreover no.8, 'Study for Portrait Group at Hatfield', is very likely to be the preparatory study for another Shepherd work on Art UK, a group portrait held by University College, Oxford : http://bit.ly/2r7LGLh

I suppose the first two at least will merit new discussions to get them correctly attributed (though there'll be little left to discuss); and U.Coll may be interested to know about the study, as it will help them date theirs (as well as confirming that the Cecil brothers are shown at Hatfield House, though I can't at the moment identify the room).

The Illustrated London News of 27 Oct 1928 has a piece on Shepherd's Beaux Arts show, and there are images of all five Oxford paintings. Any remote possibility that the unattributed Hall interiors held by Brasenose and All Souls might be something else are now removed. See attached.

Re Univ. College's Cecil group portrait, the DNB's biog of Lord Robert C. says there is another version at Hatfield House - very probably the oil study from Beaux Arts.

Osmund, we are all immensely grateful to you for the huge amount of effort and expertise you have demonstrated (as always!) in gathering the necessary evidence to resolve what sometimes seem to be rather intractable issues. Thanks are also due to other contributors, notably Andrea Kollmann for pointing to the correct line of enquiry. In regard to the previously unidentified F H S Shepherd paintings with Brasenose College and All Souls College my view is that new discussions are not needed, as the evidence is clear, and I suggest that Edward Stone should consider the most appropriate way of implementing your findings. I'll now submit a new more definitive recommendation in relation to the Shepherd painting held by Kirklees.

Following further research by Osmund Bullock, there is now clear evidence that the painting known by Kirklees Museums and Galleries as 'Upper Library, Christ Church, Oxford' was painted sometime prior to October 1928 by Frederick Hawkesworth Sinclair Shepherd, NEAC (1877-1948). The supporting evidence is attached to Osmund's post of earlier today. In brief, the painting, titled then as 'The Library, Christ Church, Oxford' was included as catalogue entry #4 in Shepherd's solo show held at the Beaux Arts Gallery off Bruton Street in London W1. The painting is illustrated clearly in the catalogue. It is my recommendation that the collection should be invited to consider updating their records following which this discussion may be closed.

Thank you everyone for your detective work, we shall update our records with the attribution.

More now of interest than of relevance, but I also accessed a full list of Shepherd's exhibits at NEAC, including later ones - these include four other works that can be quite confidently associated with four paintings on Art UK by Shepherd (all correctly attributed).

The BM's 'Interior of the King's Library' http://bit.ly/2ql2e3c was #226 in 1930w (their 1931 date for it is thus a little out); Corpus Christi, Cambridge's 'The High Table in the Hall...' http://bit.ly/2r84yct was #164 in 1935w; University College, Oxford's fully-named 'Group Portrait...' http://bit.ly/2qD3sBP was #245 in 1937w (originally titled 'Sir Michael Sadler and the Fellows...'); and Trinity College, Cambridge's 'Interior of the Wren Library' http://bit.ly/2rkySRQ was #296, exhibited posthumously in 1948w. The 'w' indicates the winter show.

A pdf of the whole Shepherd list attached.

I have passed Osmund's most useful information about the painting in University College,Oxford on to the Archivist of University College, Oxford

Thanks, Martin - Univ have two Shepherd portrait groups, of course.

Even more thanks are due to you, though - ones that you seldom get - for finding us yet another good Art UK painting with an interesting question to go with it - now over 50 of them, in fact, and every bit as important as trying to find the answers.