CHARLES EDWARD HALLE (BRITISH 1846 - 1919),
DAYDREAM
oil on canvas, monogrammed and inscribed "To Dr. Morrell Mackenzie", further monogrammed, titled and dated 1887 verso
60cm x 50cm
Framed

Note: Morell Mackenzie was a famous Victorian throat physician, knighted by the Queen, and this is very likely an image of one of his three daughters, painted by Halle as a “thank-you” for a successful treatment. Hallé was born in Paris, the son of (Sir) Charles Hallé, the pianist and conductor, and came to England at the time of the revolution of 1848. Much of his young adulthood was spent in Italy, but back in London he established himself as a portrait painter while also attempting imaginative and literary themes. In 1877 he and Joseph Comyns Carr assisted Sir Coutts Lindsay in founding the Grosvenor Gallery to show the work of the more advanced artists of the day: the venue immediately became the flagship of the Aesthetic Movement. When, in 1887, disputes arose over the running of the Grosvenor, Hallé and Carr withdrew and, with the support of Burne-Jones and other luminaries, opened the New Gallery in Regent Street the following year. Hallé continued to paint, exhibiting regularly at both the Grosvenor and New Galleries. Despite having been born only two years prior to the founding of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, stylistically Hallé was firmly aligned with the aesthetic of that group. Charles Hallé is mentioned very fondly by Isadora Duncan in her book titled “My Life’ published in 1927, the year of her death. She describes the activities she and Charles enjoyed together in Paris, long strolls, trips to the countryside, gallery tramping and dining. She said, “I danced for him in the forest and he made sketches of me.”