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Edwin Douglas' painting of his wife Christiana in 1883. The picture was entitled "Muffins" and was engraved and sold well in the States. |
THIS IS FINDON — www.findonvillage.com created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
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Edwin Douglas' painting of his wife Christiana in 1883. The picture was entitled "Muffins" and was engraved and sold well in the States. |
EDWIN DOUGLAS IN THE STATES
Copyright Valerie Martin 2000
Please note that I cannot enter into correspondence on valuations of paintings nor advise on where best to sell items.
I have also discovered a print of the above, very similar in comparison but this time entitled Muffy —
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Edwin Douglas, artist, found Jersey cattle were particularly paintable. He saw their sweet heads, their fine and well-marked bodies and found them small enough to group easily and gracefully on his canvases.
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Edwin Douglas' "Prize Jerseys" painted in 1887 for Sir James Blyth, Bart. Exhibited at the "Land and Water" Exhibition, Pall Mall, London. The cows names from left to right are "Perry Farm Deary", "Sweet Secret" and "Rosy". (Name of the calf is unknown). Queen Victoria became President of the Royal Agricultural Society of England in 1889. Edwin Douglas always took the greatest interest in the Society of which he was a member. He presented her and the Prince of Wales with signed artist proofs of "Prize Jerseys". |
His Jersey cattle pictures eventually became rather popular, especially in the United States where they were all the rage and were financially profitable. I think perhaps Edwin indulged in over-sentimentality in his paintings by including milkmaids alongside the beautifully portrayed cows.
Perhaps it was the fine, short, curved-in horns of the Jersey cattle that caught Edwin's eye. Maybe it was the white zone behind the black muzzle, the eyes — or just the ever so gentle and docile expression that brought the Jersey cattle to have a special place in his heart. The very names of his paintings conjure up images even if one has not seen them. "Buttercup and Strawberry", "Mother and Daughter", "Pearl and Mother o' Pearl" — some fifteen or more renderings of Jersey cattle characters came to life with Edwin's brush.
In 1886 when Edwin was 38 years old, the Jersey boom was at its zenith. It was that year that he received a long letter from his friend, Mr. Weedon Grossmith, who was then acting with Mrs. Cecil Clay's Company in New York. His friend told him how he had found reproductions of Edwin's work all over the States. He strongly advised Edwin to visit America. His good friends, Walter Webb and Sir John Puleston also pressed this advice upon Edwin.
Edwin put off the idea because he knew he was a bad sailor and the very thought of crossing the Atlantic weighed more heavily in the balance than the chances of making a name for himself and a fortune in America. The opportunity of sailing to America passed him by. Instead he came to Findon.
Continue if you would like to read My Father's Last Letter.
Back to Edwin
James Douglas Index
This is Findon — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.
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E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com |
