Baxter, Charles (1809-79; English)
Rosebud of England 1861
Oil on canvas, c. 54.0 x 33.0 cm (21” x 13”)
Purchased, 1864; de-accessioned and auctioned 1941
Unidentified, present location unknown
[photo: detail of 1872 photo of the MPL’s Picture Gallery, presumably showing this work (SLV)]
This painting, visible in early photos of the old picture gallery of the Public Library, as shown here, was later de-accessioned and sold through Melbourne auctioneers Leonard Joel’s in 1941. Its companion painting remains in the NGV collection: see Baxter Rose of England 1861 {1864} NGV [PA].
Bénézit mentions the 1970 London auction of a painting by Baxter called “Young Woman with Rose” – possibly identical with the present work. The photo reproduced above seems to suggest a younger subject than the other painting (as does the ‘bud’ of the title).
For a comparable double portrait by Baxter, see artist entry.
Refs.
NGV 1875, p.43; NGV 1894, p.97 (IV.McArthur Gallery, no.72: as on loan to the Bendigo Art Gallery); NGV 1905, p.161 (“Pictures on loan to country galleries”) [£159/12]
See Galbally & others, The First Collections (1992), cat.3 (the companion picture), p.41, reproducing the 1872 photograph of the Picture Gallery showing both paintings (SLV H96.160/1793)
For the 1941 sale, see Michael Watson, “The Victorian Art Exhibition 1864-65,” La Trobe Journal 88 (Dec.2011), p.40. See also the list of auction entries in Bénézit 1, p.1372 (entry on Baxter), including the work sold in London on 16 Dec.1970 (for £170)