Works included in this catalogue
Baxter Rose of England 1861 {1864} NGV [PA]
* Baxter Rosebud of England 1861 {1864} Loc? [PA]
Baxter exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1834 onwards, pursuing what the NGV 1894 catalogue, in its entries on the two works below, describes in lukewarm terms as “a struggling career as a painter of portraits and miniatures” (these comments were almost certainly penned by Bernard Hall).
Christopher Wood (1995) simply remarks that Baxter produced “fancy portraits and charming pretty girls in the ‘Keepsake’ tradition” (example reproduced below).
The pair of female portraits acquired for Melbourne in 1864 later received adverse criticism, and the second work was auctioned off in 1941.
[photo: Baxter The Sisters (1840s?) (V&A)]
Refs.
For the two works bought for Melbourne in 1864, see Galbally, First Collections (1992), cat.3 (with further references).
For the artist, see Wood Victorian Painters (1971/1995), vol.1, p.43; see also AKL7 (1993), p.653 (mentioning both 1864 acquisitions), and Bénézit 1, p.1372, listing the NGV’s “English Rose Bud,” and citing a 1970 auction of possible relevance to the second work listed above: see relevant entry for details
For The Sisters, reproduced above, see https://www.vandaimages.com/preview.asp?inline=true&image=2006BD7874-01&wwwflag=1&imagepos=26 (accessed 19 May 2020)