ARTIST: Barnett Samuel Marks (British, 1827 - 1916)
NAME: Portrait of E R Pratt (titled on stretcher)
YEAR: 1884
MEDIUM: oil on canvas
CONDITION: Minor stable craquelure. Inpainted area along upper edge. Some damages to frame.
SIGHT SIZE: 24 x 20 inches / 60 x 50 cm
FRAME SIZE: 29 x 25 inches / 73 x 63 cm
SIGNATURE: on stretcher
CATEGORY: antique vintage painting
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BIOGRAPHY:
Barnett Samuel Marks R.C.A. (Royal Cambrian Academician) was a Welsh-Jewish portrait painter who was also noted for his social realism paintings.Barnett Samuel Marks was born in Cardiff on 8 May 1827, the first child of Mark Lyon Marks, originally from Neath, and Ann Michael from Swansea. His father was a watchmaker and auctioneer and an important figure in the establishment of the Jewish community in Cardiff. His mother's grandfather, a wealthy silversmith and merchant, had arrived in South Wales from Germany in the middle of the eighteenth century and the family had played a key part in establishing the first major Jewish community in Wales at Swansea.Marks was educated privately in Cardiff. In addition to his early promise as an artist and portrait painter, he played the piano and the ophicleide and took part in cultural events in the town. He supplemented his income from painting portraits by giving art classes. His studio was at the family home on the major commercial street of St Mary Street, Cardiff, where his father's business was based.He was initiated as a Freemason in 1856 at the St David's Lodge, which met in Aberdare, moving to the Glamorgan Lodge in Cardiff in 1861. With fellow Freemasons and Cardiff gentlemen he played cricket at Cardiff Arms Park in its early years as a sporting venue.In late 1857 his career received a boost when he gained the patronage of the Marchioness of Bute.Early the following year Marks married his cousin Zipporah from Swansea, the second daughter of his deceased uncle Michael Marks, and he moved from St Mary Street to his own home and studio at 33 Charles Street, Cardiff. From 1859 he regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London.In 1859 he joined the newly created Volunteer Force. The following year he was called upon to do jury service. The experience seems to have had a big impact on him. He used the image of a young boy to highlight the plight of poor children in the town. A resulting series of paintings would bring him considerable notice at the Royal Academy.In the early 1860s he supported the Cardiff Free Library, being on the Committee 1865-66, and where he gave art classes for young mechanics.In 1866, after consistently exhibiting at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, with a growing reputation as a portrait painter and a young family to educate, Barnett Samuel Marks moved to London. His studio was initially in Great Portland Street, then at Westbourne Terrace, and later, from 1874, in Fitzroy Square, where his neighbours included Solomon Alexander Hart (librarian, and previously a professor, at the Royal Academy), Ford Madox Brown (artist), Robert William Edis (architect), George Bernard Shaw.He contributed to a number of private exhibitions and taught art at the Westminster Jews' Free School and the Bayswater Jewish School, whilst continuing his career as a portrait painter. More than ever in London, he was affected by the numbers of homeless children on the streets and the work of Dr. Barnardo inspired a series of diptychs showing groups of boys before and after their rescue. These paintings received favourable comment from the art critic of the Art Journal and were seen and applauded by John Ruskin.In 1879 he joined the Buckingham and Chandos Lodge of Freemasons which met at the Freemasons' Hall, 60 Great Queen Street. He painted at least two portraits for the Hall and, after the disastrous fire in 1883, he was commissioned to paint copies of two important paintings that had been badly damaged. He was a Master of this lodge and was presented with a Past Master's jewel in 1889. Amongst the brothers were Sir John Braddick Monckton and Bram Stoker.The family home was in the then country suburb of Ealing, where they lived from 1867 to c.1897. Marks involved himself in the local community here and supported John Allen Brown in the establishment of the Ealing Free Library, which opened in 1883.He maintained contact with Cardiff, contributing to and helping to organise exhibitions in the town, for example the Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition of 1870, which was the first major public art exhibition to be held in Cardiff, the Fine Arts Exhibition at the Drill Hall in 1879 and the early exhibitions of the Royal Cambrian Academy. He was elected a full member of this latter institution in 1887. He donated a number of paintings to the Cardiff Town Council and also received a number of commissions for portraits. As president of the Art Section of the Cymmrodorion Society, he delivered a paper on art as part of the 1883 National Eisteddfod of Wales in Cardiff and was an adjudicator of art for the Eisteddfod of 1885. He was present at the opening of the New Synagogue in Cardiff in 1897, having been President of the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation.In 1892 he was commissioned to paint a portrait of the then Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) for a public institution in Calcutta (Kolkata). The following year the United Grand Lodge of England commissioned a portrait of Edward, First Earl of Lathom, the Pro Grand Master (see below). He continued painting portraits at least until 1898, when he was in his early 70s and he also exhibited a number of still life paintings in later life at the Royal Cambrian Academy.He was a committee member of the Jews' Free School, the Westminster Jews' Free School and the Bayswater Jewish School, and was a delegate to the Jewish Voluntary Schools Association. He was also Vice-President of the Industrial Committee of the charitable organisation "The Jewish Board of Guardians".In c.1897 the Marks family moved from Ealing to 10 Matheson Road, Kensington where Barnett Samuel Marks died on 6 December 1916.