Hugo Breul (American, 1854-1910), Medium: oil on canvas. Signed lower left & title "Portrait of Frederick Batcheller", on stretcher bar in pencil. Dimensions: 20" x 16". In original frame: 26" x 21". Condition: poor.This is a very important portrait of the providence School artist Frederick Batcheller (1837 – 1889) by Hugo Breu,l a very accomplished self-trained early generation painter from Providence. In a documentary article on the early art colony in Providence, published in the 1914 Board of Trade magazine, this portrait painting was reproduced. Artist George Whitaker authored the 1914 article, "Reminiscences of Providence Artists". Sadly the condition of the painting is poor and in need of professional restoration, but its historical significance is well worth the investment! The painter of the portrait is Hugo Breul, a prolific and skilled painter who was one of the leading artists in the City of Providence. He studied with O. Seitz in Germany, Boulanger and Lefebvre in Paris and finally, with W. Merritt Chase. The sitter is the beloved Fred Batcheller a first-generation Providence painter who was one of the five painters in the "1855 group" that established the Providence School artistic nexus. Batcheller worked in oil and he is best known for his still-life of fruit and flowers. A Memorial Exhibition of his work was held at the Providence Art Club in 1889 and was well-received. The Providence Journal reviewed the show and said that Batcheller was, “most successful in fixing the glowing color and vivid contrasts in rendering the various textures and surfaces…in the rounded, rich and shadowy masses of fruit compositions he was most at ease…The color in his fruit is generally excellent; nor is it always in the intense and highly contrasted vein that fruit painters generally take so much satisfaction in.” Batcheller’s paintings stand out among others in the thriving still life genre scene in Providence and nearby Fall River, Massachusetts

Poor. Small pinholes in surface (? insect infestation at one time).

26 x 21 in

4 lb