Keeley Halswelle, Attributed – The Dolls Dream

£250.00

1 in stock

Pen and brown ink with light blue washes on white paper, laid onto the inside cover of a sketchbook. The central figure represents a devilish man with raised eyebrows and a long curious moustache; he’s surrounded by the heads of freakish monsters and insects including wasp’s spiders and bats. Inscribed “The Dolls Dream” in pen and ink at the bottom of the page.

Board: 9 3/4 x 8 7/8 in. (24.8 x 22.5 cm.)

Condition: A small piece of the bottom left corner of the backing sheet has been torn but has not detached itself from the board. This watercolour is to be sold as seen without a frame or mount and will be delivered in a conservation standard clear polyester sleeve.

Please view our other available drawing, “Pork Chops”, attributed to Keeley Halswelle.

 

 

Add to wishlist
Categories: , , , , , , , ,
Halswelle, Keeley (1832-1891)

Description

In 1858, Keeley Halswelle completed his extraordinary drawing, The Child’s Dream. This highly detailed masterpiece, which delves into the far reaches of a young child’s imagination, was created from fairy stories and children’s fables. It is not clear if The Dolls Dream is connected in any way to the The Child’s Dream but there are some similarities in both pictures. Many comparable drawings by Halswelle have sold at auction and his work has been represented in leading galleries, including The Leicester Gallery. Both stylistically and in its fanciful subject matter his work is like that of the cartoonist and fairy illustrator Richard Doyle (1824-1883).

When exhibited at the International Exhibition in 1862 a place of honour was given to ‘A Child’s Dream’.

Brand

Halswelle, Keeley (1832-1891)

Keeley Halswelle, A.R.S.A., was born at Richmond, Surrey of Scottish parents on 23 April 1832. After studying at the British Museum and Edinburgh, he embarked upon a career in book illustration in 1860, contributing to publications such as The Illustrated London News, (1860), Good Words, (1860), Pen and Pencil Pictures from the Poets, (1866) and Scott's Poems, c. (1866). While illustrating Robert Herrick's poems, he visited Edinburgh where he stayed, studying at the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1868 he moved to Rome for several years, also working in Paris. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1866 and a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour in 1882. He exhibited at the Royal Academy 1862-91 and the Royal Society of British Artists 1875-79. Possessed of considerable energy and versatility, his subjects ranged over a wide field, but in later years he devoted his attention almost entirely to landscape. He died in Paris, after a short illness, on 12th April 1891.

Related products