England
19th century
The portrait of this charming lady -- whose enigmatic face might conjure up the image of a British Mona Lisa -- has no signature, only the inscription written on the backing paper. Based on that, our best guess is that the piece originally came from the gallery of M. Edwin Schillay in London. Mr. Schillay's son, Richard, operates Schillay Fine Art in New York, and the gallery's home page states that "For
decades after World War II, M. Edwin Schillay was the foremost dealer of 19th Century British art. He spearheaded the introduction to America of Victorian paintings on a large scale - long before Victorian art gained today's aesthetic appreciation. " We may be wrong, but we're making that connection.

Art (paintings, prints, frames)
Figures & Portraits