*MAXWELL ASHBY ARMFIELD (1881-1972) 'The Mother of the Artist - June MDCCCCV'

*MAXWELL ASHBY ARMFIELD (1881-1972) 'The Mother of the Artist - June MDCCCCV' the sitter depicted standing half-length amongst flowering foliage in a garden landscape, signed, ttiled and dated lower right, oil on canvas laid on board, 33cm x 19cm in an Arts and Crafts frame made by Joseph Southall (1861-1944) (44.5cm x 30.5cm overall) Born to a Quaker family in Ringwood, Hampshire, Armfield was educated at Sidcot School and at Leighton Park School. In 1887 he was admitted to Birmingham School of Art, then under the headmastership of Edward R. Taylor and established as a major centre of the Arts and Crafts Movement. There he studied under Henry Payne and Arthur Gaskin and, outside the school, received instruction in tempera painting from Joseph Southall at Southall's studio in Edgbaston. He was later to recall: "Apart from invaluable benefit from guidance and advice from such masters as Henry Payne, Arthur Gaskin and Joseph Southall, I really taught myself, as must any one who hopes to do individual work... I detested the Life Class, and rarely attended it: I refused to learn perspective or anatomy as they bored me, and generally, I could not have been a worse student. Exhibited: Southampton Art Gallery, June 1978 Birmingham Art Gallery, August 1978 The Fine Art Society, London, October 1978 Provenance: Private Collection, Ireland