Lot 211
JOHN FAED R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1819-1902)
'LOOK AFTER THE PENNIES'
Auction: Five Centuries: 15 November 2023 From 10:00
Description
Signed, oil on canvas
Dimensions
61cm x 76cm (24in x 30in)
Provenance
Provenance: Private collection, Scotland
Footnote
Note: John Faed was born near Gatehouse of Fleet, Kirkcudbrightshire. Artistic talent emerged early and between the ages of 11 and 12 he worked as an itinerant miniature painter fulfilling portrait commissions for Galloway aristocracy. In his late teens Faed moved to Edinburgh to study at the Trustees Academy, and was soon regularly exhibiting portraits and historical and genre scenes at the Royal Scottish Academy. Many of his compositions derived from the works of William Shakespeare, as well as Walter Scott and Robert Burns; more still depict characters and scenes inspired by his native Dumfries and Galloway. Look After the Pennies is set within a humble domestic interior, and demonstrates Faed’s exquisite handling of light and shade to articulate form: delightful details such as the soft light on the boy’s green woollen beret, the older woman’s hands, and the dust on the well-used spinning wheel exemplify his mastery.
Faed’s paintings proved immensely popular to a Victorian audience in Britain, and he also had a significant following in the United States, in acknowledgment of which he painted an important posthumous equestrian portrait of George Washington (1856). Faed’s siblings James (1821-1911), Thomas (1826–1900) and Susan (1827–1909) were also successful artists.