Edward John Cobbett,
Portrait Of A Girl
Case Study
A charming mid-19th-century oil painting attributed to English artist Edward John Cobbett (1815-1899) depicting a seated girl carrying a wicker basket within rolling scenery.
Assessment
The painting arrived with extensive yellowing due to years of accumulated dirt and, especially, tobacco smoke. The varnish was also heavily discoloured and the frame was in a sad state of disrepair.
Approach
Following an initial analysis, our conservation team worked diligently to remove the varnish and undertake very minor retouching before revarnishing. At the same time, our frame restorer recast several areas of the frame and hand moulded others, before applying a bespoke mixture of colour-matched gilt paste where required.
Result
The painting and frame now exhibit a new lease of life, while also being readied for decades of further use.
Edward John Cobbett
(1815-1899)
Edward John Cobbett was a skilled English painter of landscapes and genre who exhibited regularly at London’s Royal Academy.
Born in Westminster, London, Cobbett was initially trained as a wood carver, probably by his father, who was a skilled ‘carver and gilder’. Evidently, the young man adopted the trade with considerable vigour, as some of his early carvings can be seen at York Minster.
Around the age of 20, he began to pursue a career as an artist, and it's presumably at this point that he undertook formal tuition with the landscape painter Joseph William Allen (1803-1852). Allen was a founding member of the Society of British Artists, and his influence is evident.
Following his 1833 debut at London’s Royal Academy, he matured into an artist of considerable merit, particularly popular among the rising middle classes. He was known by the Victorian press as one of the last great ‘bohemians’, thus associating him with a social and cultural milieu of freedom-loving, anti-establishment creatives. As a member of London’s Savage Club, his circle was a most intriguing one and included writers, artists, and musicians who sought to live on the fringes of society.
Aside from the Royal Academy, his works were also shown at the British Institution, Liverpool Academy, and the Society of British Artists, where he was elected a member in 1856. He’s known to have collaborated with both William Shayer (1787-1879) and George Cole (1810-1883).
He’s represented in numerous public collections, including at Glasgow Museum, the Walker Art Gallery, Worcester City Art Gallery, and York Art Gallery.