Portrait of a Woman in a Cream Chemise

A young woman in a cream shirt, seated at a table with one hand to her throat. A brown background.

Signed A Fleming in the attributor’s hand in block letters in blue marker pen. Clearly by A Fleming, the confident light sketchy brush strokes, ‘drawing in paint’ suggest a mature period with the skin tones and capture of the fall of light suggesting A Fleming’s hand. Likely an alla prima painting from life, with a nod to Renaissance portrait composition.

Attribution under research.

The catalogue’s attribution column for this entry is not completed. The commentary describes the work as “clearly by A Fleming”; that opinion is reported in the commentary but not adopted as an attribution here.

Catalogue wording: “Attribution column not completed in the catalogue.”

How attributions are worded

A portrait of a seated woman in red tones *This almost full length portrait by A Fleming is equal in quality to its obverse. It is painted with bold strokes a vivid ‘fauvist palette and great depth of tone. The palette, composition and brush work are all untypical of Alec Fleming. This may have been an experimentation during his mature period.

The reverse is marked “A Fleming” in block capitals. Many boards in the collection carry this marking, and some of them are considered to be by Barbara Fleming. The marking may record ownership rather than authorship and is not treated here as evidence of attribution.

Fair unvarnished some damage to all corners. Some contact marks.