THOMAS HEATHERLEY (BRITISH 1824 - 1914) THE GOLDEN AGE Pencil and oil on linen over millboard, oval 22.5 x 27cm (8¾ x 10½ in.) Painted circa 1862.Literature: Maas, Trimpe & Gere,Victorian Fairy Painting, (London 1997), p.136 (illustrated)Exhibited: London, Royal Academy of Arts, Victorian Fairy Painting, 13 November 1997 - 8 February 1998 Iowa, University of Iowa Museum of Art, Victorian Fairy Painting, 28 February - 24 May 1998 Toronto, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Victorian Fairy Painting, 10 June - 13 September 1998Fairy painting began in the late eighteenth century with artists such as William Blake and Henry Fuseli who imaginatively illustrated the work of Shakespeare, particularly his more fanciful plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest. It reached its height of popularity between 1840 and 1870, and it was during this time that the present lot was painted (circa 1862). It is unsurprising that this subject matter was so popular during the middle of the nineteenth century. Despite fairies regularly appearing in literature from as early as the 14th century, a revived interest in the work of Shakespeare as previously mentioned, as well as contemporary works such as Kinder und Haus-marchen by the brothers Grimm (published in England in 1823), and Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales (translated by Mary Howitt in 1847), provided a rich source of inspiration for artists, musicians, and other writers. Indeed, so integral to Victorian painting was the topic of fairies, that alongside the most notable artists of this genre such as John Anster Fitzgerald, Noel Paton, and Richard Dadd, other distinguished artists of the day, including Millais and Landseer, dipped their paint brushes into the world of make-believe and folklore to paint at least one notable fairy picture.Thomas Heatherley (1824 - 1913) is perhaps best known as the founder of Heatherley's Academy where many famous Victorian artists studied, including Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Arthur Hughes, and Walter Crane. Heatherley himself attended the Newman Street Art School in 1850, studying under William Etty's only pupil, James Matthews Leigh. Upon Leigh's death in 1860, Heatherley took over the running of the school until 1887, when he retired to Keswick in the Lake District, leaving the school in the hands of his nephew John Crompton. An infrequent exhibitor and painter of mainly genre and figurative subjects, Heatherley's works are seldom seen at auction, with his fairly works being particularly rare.In The Golden Age the influence of Hieronymus Bosch, and Jan Bruegel on Heatherley's work can be seen in his impish figures which dance joyously and mischievously around the seated fairies whilst they play music under a leafy canopy. There is also a reference to the work of Ingres, specifically his unfinished 1862 mural of the same title (L'Age d'Or), made for the Duc de Luynes, Château de Dampierre. A reduced replica of which is now in the Fogg Art Museum, Boston. A second fairy work by Heatherley Fairy Seated on a Mushroom (painted circa 1860) was exhibited alongside The Golden Age in the 1997-98 touring Victorian Fairy Painting exhibition. Condition Report: Some fine surface cracking. With rubbing and abrasions to the framing edges. Inspection under UV reveals some light, scattered retouching, largely confined to the framing edges. Condition Report Disclaimer
