Middleton Alexander Jameson (1851-1919)
Portrait of an African
signed with initials ‘M.J.’ (lower right)
oil on canvas
14 x 12 in. (35.6 x 30.5 cm.)
with frame 20 x 18 in. (50.8 x 45.7 cm.)
Presented in an original Watts style frame.
£11,500
Beautifully executed - by an artist who spent much time in Africa - Portrait of an African is a work of sensitivity, perception, and a masterclass in composition and structure.
Born in Edinburgh, Middleton Jameson was known to his family as ‘Midge’. Before his African travels, he lived and painted in Grez-sur-Loing (c. 1879-80), the artist commune that ranked Singer Sargent, the Glasgow Boys, Frank O’Meara and Theodore Robinson among it’s visitors.
One of Middleton’s brothers, Leander, was responsible for the ‘Jameson Raid’ in the Transvaal, designed to ignite an uprising by the British expatriate workers. Although unsuccessful, it became an element that incited the Second Boer War and Second Matebele War. Middleton’s portrait of Leander is in the primary collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.