Charles Wynne Nicholls R.H.A. 1831-1903
Woman Lighting a Candle in an Interior
Oil on canvas, 41 x 31 cm.
Signed, lower-right
Charles Wynne Nicholls was born in Dublin on 20 October, 1831. He studied at the Royal Dublin Society’s Schools before first exhibiting at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1860. The following year he was elected as an Associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy. Although he moved to London in 1864, he continued to exhibit at the Royal Hibernian Academy until 1901, having become a Member in 1869. He illustrated an edition of Charles Dickens’ Dombey and Son in 1881. He died in London on 24 January, 1903.
On the grounds of style and subject matter, this painting likely dates from the early 1860s, a time when Nicholls, influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, painted interior scenes of beautiful women donned in intricately decorated costume, scenes typically inspired by the works of Byron and Shakespeare, and famous songs of the period such as Jessie, the Flower of Dunblane.