King Edward VII (1841-1910) Reigned 1901-10

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: Other
    City: storage
    This portrait of King Edward VII appears to be closely related to the better known painting of the King, executed by the official Royal Portrait Painter, Luke Fildes. In Fildes’ version Edward VII faces the viewer with a commanding stance. He holds his staff vertically in his right hand and his left hand rests on his hip. To his right his crown rests on a pillow on an ornate and heavily gilded table. Mordecai’s portrait is a more informal version of a similar pose: the setting is considerably less grand and the King is looking away from the viewer in a less challenging pose, as though consumed by his own thoughts. In this distracted state he has allowed his staff to lower and it rests gently by the crown.  
  • About the artist
    Joseph Mordecai, portrait and landscape painter, was the son of a merchant, born in London. He studied at Heatherley’s and at the Royal Academy Schools, where he won a medal. He also exhibited works at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, the Royal Academy and Royal Institute of Oil Painters in London, the Royal Cumbrian Academy and the Paris Salon. Today, works by Mordecai can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery and the Guildhall Art Gallery in London and at Leeds Art Gallery.
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  • Details
    Title
    King Edward VII (1841-1910) Reigned 1901-10
    Date
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    height: 278.50 cm, width: 201.50 cm
    Acquisition
    Presented by the copyist's widow, December 1944
    Inscription
    sbr
    GAC number
    0/658