Oliver Clare Victorian Floral Still Life Oil Painting With Bird’s Nest & Blue Eggs c.1880–1890

Details

Description

Oliver Clare Victorian Floral Still Life with Bird’s Nest & Blue Eggs c.1880–1890

An atmospheric signed Victorian woodland still life … Read more Oliver Clare Victorian Floral Still Life with Bird’s Nest & Blue Eggs c.1880–1890

An atmospheric signed Victorian woodland still life combining blossom, moss and a hidden bird’s nest, with historic Haynes Fine Art provenance.

Highlights

Oliver Clare (1853–1927)
Signed British Victorian oil painting
Circa 1880–1890
Oil on canvas
Pink and white blossom
Mossy woodland-bank composition
Bird’s nest containing four blue eggs
Historic Haynes Fine Art provenance
Ornate gilt openwork frame
Compact scale with exceptional decorative presence

Introduction

An evocative Victorian woodland still life by Oliver Clare in which the artist transforms a compact canvas into an immersive fragment of the natural world.

Pink and white blossom emerges from dense vegetation and moss, while intertwined branches lead the eye towards a bird’s nest containing four luminous blue eggs.

The eggs introduce an unexpected flash of cool colour against the deep greens and earthy browns of the woodland setting.

Clare’s remarkably controlled handling gives individual identity to petals, leaves, moss and the woven nest, making this an appealing painting both for a collector of Victorian British art and for a traditional or layered interior.

Catalogue Details

Artist: Oliver Clare (1853–1927)

Title: *Still Life of Blossom and a Bird’s Nest*

Date: Circa 1880–1890

Origin: British

Medium: Oil on canvas

Signature: Signed lower right

Subject: Blossom and a bird’s nest with four blue eggs upon a mossy bank

Catalogue Note

The combination of flowers, moss-covered banks and bird’s nests is strongly associated with Oliver Clare’s still-life practice.

Historical auction and gallery records document numerous closely related compositions. Several use the same intimate 8 × 10-inch format historically recorded for the present painting by Haynes Fine Art.

A related Clare painting depicting primroses and birds’ nests upon a mossy bank is dated 1882, while other documented bird’s-nest paintings extend through the later nineteenth century.

The Bird’s Nest and Four Blue Eggs

The four largely unmarked blue eggs are suggestive in colour and clutch size of the European Starling.

This remains an interpretation rather than a confirmed identification of species, and the painting is formally catalogued simply as depicting four blue eggs.

The Artist

Oliver Clare belonged to a family of British still-life painters associated particularly with Birmingham.

His father George Clare and brother Vincent Clare were also artists. Oliver developed an exceptionally detailed naturalistic manner particularly suited to flowers, fruit and woodland textures.

His characteristic compositions frequently place natural objects directly upon mossy banks, producing a less formal and more immersive alternative to the conventional Victorian tabletop still life.

Provenance

Historic F.R. registered-stock label verso.

Haynes Fine Art of Broadway, stock no. 3463.

Private eastern shire collection.

Golding Young & Mawer, Lincoln Fine Art Sale, 5 February 2025, Lot 113.

Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®.

Dimensions

Framed approximately:

33 cm high × 38.5 cm wide × 5 cm deep.

Condition Report

Canvas previously relined.

Extensive age-related craquelure and associated surface characteristics are visible.

The ornate gilt frame displays rubbing, chips and small losses consistent with age and is not represented as original to the painting.


Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution

The artwork will be supplied with a Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution issued by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®, recording the artwork’s catalogue details, attribution, provenance as stated, and details of the sale. This document accompanies the work as part of its ongoing ownership and provenance record.


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