Jacob Membling (Austrian, 1853 – 1928) “Musicians”
Oil on Board 18 x 22 inches
Adolf Manfred Trautschold (German, 1854 – 1921)
Adolf Manfred Trautschold (German, 1854 -) “Courtship”
Oil on Canvas 24 1/2 x 34 inches
Manfred was the son of the German portrait painter Wilhelm Trautschold (1815–1877). His mother, Sophie Johnston, was Irish. He married Marguerite De Hoos, a Belgian, and had two children Reginald William Trautschold (b. 1879), Gordon Manfred Trautschold (1883 – 1951).
In 1883 he, Harry Fenn, a very well-known illustrator, and others contributed illustrations to the Christmas edition of The Penny Illustrated Paper. All these drawings look very poor. He also illustrated the book Hunting the Jaguar in Venezuela with Harry Fenn. In 1887 he immigrated to America. He lived at 90 Upper Mountain, Montclair, NJ. Fenn lived on the same street and the town became a magnet for artists.
Although Manfred described himself as an artist on the 1900 and 1910 census forms there doesn’t seem to be much evidence today that he painted much. The money must have come from somewhere because he owned a large house, he had a live-in servant and he put his two sons through university.
In 1918 Manfred’s son Reginald co-authored a book on the benefits of Taylorism which seems an odd thing for someone from an artistic background to do. Taylorism is all about taking all the individualism out of work by making all the procedures repetitive and efficient. You get more work out of the employees but they don’t last long under such a regime. Perhaps he wanted to get more work out of his dad. The other son became an architect in New York. Both of them did very well for themselves and now Manfred has many descendants in Arizona and New York.
Manfred Trautschold died on the 13th of December 1921 at 149 Madison Avenue, Flushing, Queens, New York. Although I like looking at the houses of those I research I didn’t bother looking for Manfred Trautschold’s house because that street is now called 41st Avenue and the house numbers have probably all been changed. The house, like his old house in Montclair, has probably been pulled down anyway.
Mariano Alonso Perez Y Villagrossa (Spanish, 1857 – 1930)
Mariano Alonso Perez Y Villagrossa (Spanish, 1857 – 1930) “Carriage Ride”
Oil on Board 29 x 35 inches
Mariano Alonso Pérez and Villagrosa was a Spanish painter. He began his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zaragoza and continued at the Special School of painting, sculpture and engraving in Madrid. Later he moved to Rome where he attended the Chigi Academy and the Cauva and became familiar with the technique of watercolor . In 1889 he settled in Paris where his brother resided the composer Luis Alonso and made different works set in the time of Louis XVI that were in great demand internationally and allowed him to live in a relaxed way. From 1910 he became interested in social theme painting and in 1914, coinciding with the beginning of World War I , he decided to return to Spainto settle in Madrid, the city where he died in 1930.
Raymond Neilson (American,1881 – 1964)
Raymond Neilson (American,1881 – 1964) “Moroccan City”
Oil on Board
Known for portraits and still life painting, New York City painter Raymond Neilson had well-known portrait subjects such as Admiral William Halsey; Dr. Francis Blake, Dean of the Yale Medical School; and World War II hero Brigadeer General Frederick Castle. He also did a portrait of Hayley Lever, fellow Academician at the National Academy of Design. Many of the portraits were done for Civic Organizations and presented at ceremonies commemorating the subject of the portrait. Neilson won many awards for his painting including exhibition prizes at the Paris Salon, the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915, the National Academy of Design, and the Salmagundi Club. Other exhibition venues included the New York World’s Fair of 1939, Carnegie Institute International, and Grand Central Art Galleries. Neilson was born in New York City and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1905. However, in 1908 he gave up a Navy career to follow his art, but he was reinstated during World War I and served overseas as an aide to Admiral William Sims. Then he studied at the Art Students League in New York, in Paris, and at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Raymond Neilson (American,1881 – 1964)
Raymond Neilson (American,1881 – 1964) “Franco-Moroccan War”
Oil on Board 11 x 15 1/2 inches
Known for portraits and still life painting, New York City painter Raymond Neilson had well-known portrait subjects such as Admiral William Halsey; Dr. Francis Blake, Dean of the Yale Medical School; and World War II hero Brigadeer General Frederick Castle. He also did a portrait of Hayley Lever, fellow Academician at the National Academy of Design. Many of the portraits were done for Civic Organizations and presented at ceremonies commemorating the subject of the portrait. Neilson won many awards for his painting including exhibition prizes at the Paris Salon, the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915, the National Academy of Design, and the Salmagundi Club. Other exhibition venues included the New York World’s Fair of 1939, Carnegie Institute International, and Grand Central Art Galleries. Neilson was born in New York City and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1905. However, in 1908 he gave up a Navy career to follow his art, but he was reinstated during World War I and served overseas as an aide to Admiral William Sims. Then he studied at the Art Students League in New York, in Paris, and at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Simon Durand (Swiss, 1838 – 1896)
Simon Durand (Swiss, 1838 – 1896) “End of the School Day”
Oil on Canvas 28 x 24 inches
There is little known about Simon Durand. The Geneva artist studied first with the Louis-Moïse Spiess and later attended the class of the landscape painter Barthélemy Menn at the École des Beaux-Arts in Calvinstadt. He gained prominence mainly through his portraits and genre scenes, which he publicly presented from 1862 onwards. In the 1860s he spent several months in Paris, where he was able to develop artistically. For the town hall of Plainpalais, he later created the wall painting “Les Promotions”.
Christopher Meadows (Scottish/British, 1863 – 1947)
Christopher Meadows (Scottish/British, 1863 – 1947) “The Processional”
Oil on Canvas 28 x 35 inches
Christopher Meadows (CM) was born in England in the County of Leicestershire in 1863 in the village of Hungarton [ also Hungerten]. His parents were John Meadows, who was a Cordwainer, or maker and repairer of fine shoes and Francis Parker, John’s second wife. He was the youngest child and led an ordinary childhood in Hungarton.
At about the age of 16 he moved to Aberdeen in Scotland to live with his half-brother Robert and his sister in law Mary while he attended Aberdeen University to study art.
On completion of his studies in 1883, he moved to Glasgow with Robert and Mary. Although Robert was a merchant and commission agent, according to his marriage certificate, he too was a talented artist, perhaps even more talented than his half-brother CM.
Both Christopher and Robert began exhibiting at the Glasgow Institute of Fine Art, which had been founded in 1861 for the “exhibiting and promotion of works by living artists” and continues to this day. He exhibited annually from 1883 to 1901. In 1901, Christopher showed a painting entitled The village shoemaker, [qv] which was the only one without a sales price. It is thought to have been a portratit of his father John.
He and his brother, Robert, also exhibited at the Paisley Art Institute’s 8th Annual Exhibition in 1883. This Institute was founded in 1876 by a group of local business men including Sir Peter Coats, of J&P Coats Yarns. They also supplied treasures from their own collections to augment the displays. In 1897 CM was awarded the honour of painting the portrait of the Institute’s first Curator Morris Young and he got paid for it.
He had developed connections and friendships from amongst the hunting fraternity, both in England and Scotland and was commissioned to provide portraits of many of the dogs and horses belonging to members. It was through his connections to the Lanark and Renfrewshire Hunt in Houston, Renfrewshire that he met his future wife Ada. Together, they had nine children.
In 1900 he, his wife and his family of four children, moved to Saltcoats in Ayrshire, where, eventually his other five children were born. It was with his prodigious output of work that he was able to support such a large family. It was at this time that he joined a group of fellow artists and formed “The Society of Six”, which comprised George G. Guthrie, Albert Beard, Tom Gilfillan, C.H. Lilley and R. Clouston Young. They exhibited in the local area.
He spent his final years in Largs, a seaside resort on the Ayrshire coast, where he died in 1947.
Apart from animals Chris Meadows was noted for his landscapes, seascapes and flowers, especially roses. His renditions of sky, sea and water generally, were always noteworthy.
John Laslett Pott (British, 1837 – 1898)
John Laslett Pott (British 1837 – 1898) “Gentleman with Letter”
Oil on Canvas 32 x 26 inches
Pott favored historical subjects and scenes from the Napoleonic era. A few of the historical scenes are Mary Queen of Scots on Her Way to Her Execution and Charles I After His Trial; his studies of Napoleon include Napoleon’s Farewell to Josephine and Napoleon’s Speech to his Army before the Battle of the Pyramids. Several of his paintings are in small museums (for example, Harris Museum in Preston and the Nottingham Castle Museum) and private collections.
This piece was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1884.
After: Jacob de Backer
