Charles Sims RA, RWS
Study for ‘The Countess of Rocksavage and her Son’, c. 1922
Oil on canvas
21 ¾ x 18 in (55.3 x 45.7cm)
"Inscribed on old label to reverse: '...avage/Study for Lady/...Sims RA Rocksavage & Child in Tate Gallery'
Philip Mould & Co.
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com Charles Sims was born in London and studied at the Royal College of Art in 1890 before moving to Paris...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
Charles Sims was born in London and studied at the Royal College of Art in 1890 before moving to Paris where he studied under Jules Lefebvre at the Academie Julian. By 1893 Sims was back in London where he enrolled at the Royal Academy schools, receiving the Landseer Scholarship and exhibiting his first painting, Lambs, the same year.
Exhibiting few portraits initially, Sims’s interests generally centered around landscape painting, often neo-classical in style and containing figures with a mystical edge, as seen in The Fountain, c.1907-8 [Tate Britain]. During the Great War Sims became an official war artist and following the death of his eldest son in 1914, his style became far more sombre and spiritually reflective. Throughout the 1920s Sims turned his attention to portraiture and The Countess of Rocksavage and her Son is generally considered one of his masterpieces in that genre.
Exhibited at the summer exhibition of 1922, the finished portrait was incredibly well received, the American Art News narrowing down the contest for ‘Picture of the Year’ to just Sims’s portrait and Sargeant’s of the same sitter. The success of the finished portrait clearly established Sims’s reputation and from that point onwards he exhibited almost exclusively portraits of the society elite, with subjects including King George V and Winston Churchill.
Charles Sims was born in London and studied at the Royal College of Art in 1890 before moving to Paris where he studied under Jules Lefebvre at the Academie Julian. By 1893 Sims was back in London where he enrolled at the Royal Academy schools, receiving the Landseer Scholarship and exhibiting his first painting, Lambs, the same year.
Exhibiting few portraits initially, Sims’s interests generally centered around landscape painting, often neo-classical in style and containing figures with a mystical edge, as seen in The Fountain, c.1907-8 [Tate Britain]. During the Great War Sims became an official war artist and following the death of his eldest son in 1914, his style became far more sombre and spiritually reflective. Throughout the 1920s Sims turned his attention to portraiture and The Countess of Rocksavage and her Son is generally considered one of his masterpieces in that genre.
Exhibited at the summer exhibition of 1922, the finished portrait was incredibly well received, the American Art News narrowing down the contest for ‘Picture of the Year’ to just Sims’s portrait and Sargeant’s of the same sitter. The success of the finished portrait clearly established Sims’s reputation and from that point onwards he exhibited almost exclusively portraits of the society elite, with subjects including King George V and Winston Churchill.
Provenance
Private collection, UK;Christie’s, London, 20 June 2013, lot 11