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Francis Sydney MuschampFrancis Sydney Muschamp RBA, A Game Of Chessc. 1895
c. 1895
About the Item
This late 19th-century oil painting by British artist Francis Sydney Muschamp RBA (1851-1929) depicts a mediaeval couple playing chess within a historic interior, perhaps a castle. Muschamp was predominantly known for his imagined domestic scenes with figures dressed in period costume.
Hailing from Hull in Yorkshire, Muschamp moved with his family to London early in life, where he was probably taught to paint by his father, Francis Muschamp Senior. He was an accomplished figure painter and his oeuvre is decorated with beautifully rendered interiors, sweeping dresses, and maidens captivated by chivalrous acts. In some respects, he appears influenced by the Aesthetic Movement but balances this with a traditional Victorian narrative. As such, his works were popular with middle-class buyers, particularly at his peak - they offered a welcome escape from the gritty realities of industrialisation.
Here, in this piece from circa 1895, he’s captured a game of chess between two lovers. It’s probably an allegory of courtship - the merry dance of burgeoning love. The lady wears an exquisite pale green and pink dress, her red hair reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelite muse, Fanny Cornforth. The shape of her figure cleverly enhanced by the fireplace beyond.
Note the tapestry hanging behind and the mediaeval altarpiece.
Muschamp produced two comparable works around the same time, ‘The Music Lesson’ and ‘A Surprise Visit’. Both feature the same model and similar outfit. The first sold at Sotheby’s, New York, for $12,000.
He exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of British Artists, where he was a member.
Signed in the lower right and held within a gilt frame.
Provenance: Private collection, England.
Artist’s auction maximum: £23,000 for ‘On the Beach’, Oil on Canvas, Sotheby’s, London, 1989.
Established in 2017, Brave Fine Art is a premier English art dealership based in Cheltenham with clients including national galleries and country estates. Our team includes a conservator, logistics specialist and art historian. Over 1,000 paintings have been transported to the US and Canada safely with hundreds of glowing reviews.
We set our prices fairly from the start as we prefer to sell quickly and continually evolve the collection. Around 40 new discoveries are added every month. If you have any questions at all, we’d love to hear from you.
- Creator:Francis Sydney Muschamp (1851 - 1929, British)
- Creation Year:c. 1895
- Dimensions:Height: 30.5 in (77.47 cm)Width: 40.5 in (102.87 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Assessed and approved by our conservator. Cleaned. Revarnished. Settled craquelure, as you would expect. The paint layer is stable. Frame restored. Frame with light marks and signs of age.
- Gallery Location:Cheltenham, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2328214328512
Francis Sydney Muschamp
Francis Sydney Muschamp was taught by his father, the landscape painter Francis Muschamp (1827-1896), and found success as a painter of literary and neoclassical subject pictures in the style of Frederic Leighton (1830-1896) and Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912). Muschamp favourite themes were the novels of Sir Walter Scott and the plays of William Shakespeare. Between 1870 and 1903 Francis Muschamp exhibited 16 paintings at the Royal Academy, 38 at the Royal Society of British Artists, and many others at Manchester City Gallery, the Royal Society of Artists in Birmingham, the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, the Royal Hibernian Academy. Muschamp was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1893.
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