Alexander Carse (c.1770–1843), "Self-Portrait with Two Women (Presumed to be the Artist's Mother and Sister)" (1795), National Galleries of Scotland, Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
I received a postcard yesterday that was the cover of the Penguin edition of Persuasion, with a detail of a very Austenian painting which the caption informed me was Alexander Carse's "The Visit of the Country Relations". Little seems to be known about this earlyish Scottish genre painter, whose Wikipedia article is a decent length but manages to say not very much except a few details such as that he may have painted the earliest-known depictions of football (!) and that the "Country Relations" painting is regarded as his best work.
It is like a little novel in itself, so I'm very interested to see it in better detail and in color. Curiously for it being regarded as his best work, I can find only one single black-and-white image of it, with no indication of its whereabouts -- but I did appreciate finding another painting of someone reading, so I will have to be satisfied with that for the time being!
Oh my word - look at the women in the first picture - Ma reading the Bible and Sister having to sit and do nothing because she is a woman. I am so happy that I had choices.
Posted by: Toffeeapple | March 25, 2020 at 05:39 PM