Original Antique George William Russell Watercolor - Landscape with Figures

          Original Antique George William Russell Watercolor        Landscape with Figures
Offered here is a large watercolor by George William Russell, signed with his usual "Æ", lower right.  Russell was perhaps better known as a poet, playwright, editor, critic, and organizer.  While he did not pursue recognition as an artist and was not a member of any of the prestigious art organizations, his paintings are highly regarded and bring respectable auction results (see the images). We haven't included biographical material since interested buyers won't need it and a simple search will provide volumes of information.
Our piece is fairly large, at 11 by 18 inches sight and 21 by 28 inches overall.  The painting is on watercolor paper laid to heavy card.  If you look closely, you will notice that the gold bottom mat is not perfectly rectangular.  This became more evident when we added the top mat to lighten the presentation.  Nevertheless, we have kept the gold mat, with slight trimming, because it provides a time frame for the original framing.  The gold mat is SCHRAM Extra Gild Mat Board and was made by a process patented in 1895 (Letters Patent No. 533,674, dated February 5, 1895).  The Schram gilt board fell out of favor in the early 20th century because of cheaper alternatives.  The top mat can be removed if you prefer the darker mat.
The painting pictures a group of women, apparently berry picking in a country setting while a young man observes from his position atop a large boulder.  The medium is mixed transparent watercolor and bodycolor.  The condition is excellent and the colors are bright and unfaded.

Russell's oils have sold to $64000 and his watercolors to $10000 (see images).  Our piece was authenticated and sold by Elder's Antiques in 2006 for $2280 (see images), a low price for Russell.  You can see what it looks like with the single gold mat, but the frame was since damaged and replaced with a higher quality frame (see images) and glazed with acrylic.  

We have listed below the 2006 Elder's auction price  The price is firm. Returns are accepted only in case of misrepresentation but our guarantee of authenticity is without time limit.