CHARLES BAXTER, (London, 1809 - 1879) "The Sisters,... Lot 40

CHARLES BAXTER, (London, 1809 - 1879) "The Sisters, 1812. Oil on canvas. With illegible signature. Sizes: 36 x 31 cm; 48 x 43 cm (frame) Painter, watercolourist and miniaturist, Charles Baxter specialised in genre painting and portraiture, mainly female. The son of a craftsman who specialised in ornamental book bindings, he began his career as an apprentice bookbinder, but eventually abandoned the trade to devote himself professionally to painting, focusing on portraiture and miniatures. In 1834 he met the portraitist and engraver George Clint, whose teachings proved invaluable in shaping his style. That same year Baxter exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy in London. Five years later he joined the Clipstone Streen Society, where he broadened his artistic knowledge and had companions such young talents as Paul Falconer Poole, William Müller, Edward Duncan, Joseph John Jenkins and Francis William Topham. In 1842 he was made a member of the Society of British Artists, in whose salon he exhibited the poetic and rustic portraits and scenes that sustained his fame. His female heads were particularly admired for their refined expression and purity of colour. Works by Charles Baxter are now held in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, the Plymouth Museum, the Atkinson, Ferens and Wolverhampton Galleries, as well as in a number of private collections.