Lot 66: Frederick Stead (British, 1863-1940) A picnic

Frederick Stead (British, 1863-1940)
A picnic
signed 'FRED STEAD' (lower right)
oil on canvas
64 x 76cm (25 3/16 x 29 15/16in).
Footnotes

Provenance
Sale, Tennants, 5 July 2007, lot 1339
with Messum's Fine Art, London
Private collection, UK

Exhibited
(possibly) London, Royal Academy, 1919, no.663
London, Messum's Fine Art, The Realist Tradition, December 2007

Frederick 'Fred' Stead was born in Shipley, Yorkshire in August 1863. He studied initially at the Shipley School of Art before being awarded a scholarship to The Royal Cambrian Academy. Stead gained a reputation as portrait painter of the rich and wealthy of Bradford and became the Chairman of the Society of Yorkshire Artists. He was however far more than just a portrait painter - his landscapes show a love of his native Yorkshire and he exhibited regularly at The Royal Academy in London including works such as Shades of Evening, The Magic Crystal and The Princess and the Frog.