Lot 101: ROBERT BROUGH 1872-1905 A LADY BY THE FIRESIDE

signed l.l.: R. Brough

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Sotheby's, 19 November 1980, lot 23;
Private collection
EXHIBITED

Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, Robert Brough ARSA, 1995, no. 65
CATALOGUE NOTE

Robert Brough came from humble beginnings below stairs of a grand house, Hamilton Palace, as the illegitimate son of a lady's maid and coachman to the Duchess of Hamilton. His mother Helen moved away from Hamilton Palace with her infant son and went to live with her brother, a dairy farmer. Although the Brough family struggled financially, Robert's childhood was happy and his talent was recognised at an early age. After his schooling he was apprenticed to the lithographic firm of Andrew Gibb and Co and he attended evening classes at Gray's School of Art. He showed a precocious predilection towards portraiture with unusual lighting effects from gas-lamps or firelight. In 1891 he was accepted into the Royal Scottish Academy Schools where he studied with Peploe who became a great friend. Peploe and Brough continued their studies together in Paris, at he Academié Julian where their tutors were the academic Bougereau, Laurens and Constant. The influence of the teachings in France and Brough's travels through Brittany were profound and demonstrated through the direction of his work which ranged between rustic landscape and elegant portraiture in the grand style. The new approach to art of Sargent and Whistler also greatly effected Brough's art and the close parallel between Sargent's flamboyant portraits and those of Brough is evidenced in the present sketch. Brough and Sargent were indeed good friends and the older artist possessed a genuine admiration for Brough's work, painting his portrait for The Chelsea Arts Club. Many of Brough's portraits were painted in Aberdeen where Brough established his reputation as a painter in the 1890s. 'Brough himself took on the new fashion of painting with delight, developing his own technique with virtuoso brushstrokes, bold colours, striking silhouettes and exaggerated poses... Brough's expressed ideal was "To combine the dash of Sargent and the beautiful refinement of Velazquez" and this is exactly what he did. ' (Robert Brough ARSA 1872-1905, exhibition catalogue for Aberdeen Art Gallery, 1995, p. 30) Unfortunately, Brough's genius was brought to an end when he was involved in a train accident near Leeds in January 1905. Brough was unable to escape from his sleeping-berth and was severely burnt by the flames. He died the next day with Sargent at his bedside.

31 by 40.5 cm., 12 by 16 in.