Original watercolor portrait of an unknown violinist, possibly Georg Hellmesberger Jr.,
by the British portrait painter and miniaturist E.W. Hatton. Signed and dated 1847 by the artist.
The subject is seated holding a violin in one hand and a bow in the other. Image size 185 x 175 mm. Sheet size 270 x 216 mm. Executed on light card stock.
Margins heavily browned; mat slightly worn and soiled, with light burn; remnants of former mount to verso.
Austrian violinist and composer Georg Hellmesberger Jr. (1830-1852) made a concert tour of England and Germany in 1847. He became court concertmaster and director of vaudeville and ballet music in Hanover in 1850 and then Kapellmeister shortly before his premature death.
The subject closely resembles Hellmesberger, who was in England in 1847 and would have been 17 years of age at the time, matching the apparent age of the sitter; the portrait also resembles depictions of Hellmesberger found in other printed images.
Hatton was active in London in the mid-19th century, exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy between 1845 and 1882. Benezit (1966) Vol. 4, p. 610 and Graves: The Royal Academy of Arts A Complete Dictionary of Contributors, Vol. 4, p. 24.
Item #36338
Price: $750.00 other currencies