English School (19th century), A dog waiting at a door

English School (19th century)A dog waiting at a doorOil on canvasSigned with monogram lower left16.5 x 23cm (6¼ x 9 in.) Together with a Follower of Landseer, study of a fox; and a naive watercolour of a pair of Thrushes (3)To be sold without reserveThe Pinkers Collection of British, American and European Folk Art This charming collection of folk art takes its name from a diminutive 17th Century cottage on the Kent coast where it has hung and grown in size over the last twenty years. It includes watercolours and oil paintings from the 17th to the early 20th Century. Many are in their original frames and in remarkably fresh condition. Despite its rural location and the provincial subject matter of the works it is a truly international collection and many of the lots have come from some of the most important collectors and dealers in folk art on both sides of the Atlantic including Robert Young, Denzil Grant and Charles Plante in England and David Wheatcroft, Joan Brownstein and Austin Miller in America.Folk Art has been described as 'the unselfconscious creativity of academically untrained artists' (Robert Young, Folk Art, 1999) and it is this quality that gives many of the works an immediacy and playfulness that has chimed with generations of collectors. Some of the pictures, by journeymen artists, artisans or amateurs are provincial reinterpretations of more sophisticated works, such as the early 18th Century Yate family portraits (lot 122). Others have a joyful disregard of accepted ideas of scale, perspective and colouring, giving them a timeless quality which draws parallels with 20th Century artists including Alfred Wallis and John Nash, such as View from La Moinerie (lot 120) and the American School Portrait of a girl (lot 103) has an Outsider Art quality reminiscent of the Art Brut movement founded by Jean Dubuffet. Regardless of their origins this unique and varied collection is the manifestation of the vision and passion of a true collector.Condition Report: The DogThe canvas is unlined. Surface cracking and stretcher marks are quite pronounced but the paint layer is stable. There is a small dent or scratch in the paint layer (on the door frame above the dogs head), but no other damages or restorations are visible. It has some surface dirt and discoloured varnish. There are minor abrasions to the frames. The FoxThe board has some minor abrasion to the edges and there are some surface cracks and areas of paint shrinkage. Under UV light there are some small areas of restoration. It has a layer of uneven and discoloured varnish and some surface dirt. There are abrasions to the frame.The ThrushThe sheet has roughly cut edges and a minor tear on the upper edge. It has been laid down on a sheet of grey paper. It is quite discoloured and the pigments have most probably faded over time, There are chips and abrasions to the painted frame. Condition Report Disclaimer