SIR WILLIAM QUILLER ORCHARDSON RA HRSA RP HRMS (SCOTTISH 1832 - 1910), THE PORTRAIT OF ALICE FAIRFAX RHODES oil on canvas, signed with initials 127cm x 101.6cm (50 x 40 inches) Gilt frame Note: a copy of the 1972 Scottish Arts Council touring exhibition catalogue accompanies this lot. The Artist: Sir William Quiller Orchardson was born in Edinburgh in 1832. He attended The Trustees' Academy from 1845 aged thirteen. By the age of sixteen, his first painting had been exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy (Edinburgh). By the end of his career, he had been knighted, become a prominent Royal Academician, an Honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy, a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur, and had been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law at Oxford University. By way of a memorial, a copy of the 1895 portrait bust by Edward Onslow Ford was acquired by public subscription for The Tate Gallery and a plaque was installed in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral. In 1862, Orchardson moved to London and quickly made a huge impact on the London art scene and the Royal Academy. Orchardson's subject matter changed from Scottish scenes of historical everyday life, to literary themes from writers such as Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens and Harriet Beecher Stowe. He became famous for his portraits and period or contemporary set-pieces and shied away from landscape painting in favour of working from his studio. He developed his own unique style with a very thin application of paint in warm earthy shades on to a dry white ground that gives an overall yellow tone. He worked very carefully but with a quick application of the paint. Orchardson's subjects were undemanding and their anecdotal elements were extraordinarily popular with Victorians who each year ''flocked to the Royal Academy to see his paintings''. He became more successful than any of his Scottish predecessors both in Britain and in France. His work was publicly admired by the Impressionist Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917) and in the early days, the American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834 - 1903) took it upon himself to raise Orchardson's profile in England. Orchardson's most famous paintings include ''Napoleon on board the Bellerophon'', (acquired for The National Collection by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest for Tate), ''Voltaire'' (National Galleries Scotland), ''Mariage de Convenance'' (Glasgow Museums & Galleries), ''The Salon of Madame Récamier''; ''After'' ( the sequel to the ''Mariage de Convenance''), ''A Tender Chord'', ''Her First Dance'' (Tate), ''Master Baby'' (National Galleries Scotland), ''A Social Eddy'' (Aberdeen) ''The First Cloud'' (Tate), ''Her Mother's Voice'' (Tate), The Portrait of Lady Orchardson (The Barber Institute) and ''The Young Duke'' (Lady Lever Art Gallery) to which the Royal Academy hanging committee awarded the primary position in the entire 1889 RA Exhibition in preference to the principal offering of Frederic Lord Leighton, another great favourite of the day. Collections: More than one hundred of Orchardson's paintings are held in UK National Collections including The Royal Collection, The Palace of Westminster, The UK Government Collection, The Tate, The National Gallery, The National Gallery of Scotland, The National Portrait Gallery, The Hunterian and at Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Ulster, Kirkcaldy, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Bolton, Paisley, Middlesborough, Nottingham, Birmingham and Southampton. Beyond the UK, The Musée d'Orsay (Paris), The Uffizi Museum (Florence), The Beaverbrook Gallery (Canada), The NGV (Australia), The Royal Museums (Belgium) and notable others hold examples of his work. The Painting: Although undated, is identical in size and of very similar composition, palette and style to ''The Portrait of Mrs James T. Tullis'' (Glasgow Museums & Galleries) which is dated 1896, the same year that Orchrdson was nominated for the Presidency of The Royal Academy. The Sitter: Miss Alice Fairfax Rhodes was the youngest daughter of Colonel Fairfax Rhodes of Brockhampton Park, Gloucestershire. Colonel Fairfax Rhodes was the only son of John Rhodes of Potternewton House, Leeds whose obituary describes him as having ''one of the finest collections of paintings in the north of England''. Fairfax Rhodes bequeathed his collection of rare books to The Cambridge Union which now reside in The Fairfax Rhodes Reading Room. The significance and value of the collection can be measured against the only two other individuals with named rooms within The Cambridge Union; Earl Mountbatten of Burma and former US President John F Kennedy. His only son John Fairfax Rhodes Lieut. Royal Scots Greys was killed in action in the Boer War on Feb 18th 1902.