Lot 394: HERBERT SIDNEY (1858-1923)

HERBERT SIDNEY (1858-1923)
'Mrs Stuart of Stonehurst', Ardingly - Sussex, signed and dated 1913, also inscribed with title verso, oils on canvas, 90 x 69cm

John Stuart made a fortune back in the 1880's, as inventor of Camp Coffee, the blend of chicory and spices that substituted for instant coffee until Nescafe appeared in 1938. He built Stonehurst House in Ardingly in 1889 on the proceeds.

He also had the good fortune to marry Mary Ann Rose, in about 1872. She was the widow of Thomas Ross, who owned Ross Optical in London, that traded through to 1949. Ross Optical Company were major manufacturers of precision optical instruments and early associates of Carl Zeiss. Ross was for example, a supplier of lenses and instruments to William H. Fox Talbot, the pioneer of photography. John Stuart became the managing director of Ross Optical after his marriage to Mary Ann and developed the company further.

Mary was 73 when this portrait was painted at Ardingly in 1913 by Herbert Sidney, FSA.

Herbert Sidney was a well established Victorian painter of portraits and historical subjects. He studied at the RA schools, in Antwerp, and in Paris - under Gerome, at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He exhibited at the leading London galleries from 1876.