Fred Elwell (1870 - 1958), "Robert Henry Micks portrait", oi...

Estimate

£3,000 - £4,000

Fred Elwell (1870 - 1958), "Robert Henry Micks portrait", oil on canvas, signed lower left hand corner, 124 x 99 cm, gilt frame ARR.
Provenance; property of the Hull Corn Trade Guild.
Robert Henry Micks J.P. (1859 - 1934) was born in Waterford, Co. Cork, Ireland and by 1871 (he was 12) was living in Hull, he later became a corn merchant setting up the firm of Micks, Lambert & Co. in the High Street by the river Hull; they were one of the founding firms of the Hull corn trade. By 1901, already successful he lived in Hotham House, Hotham.
In 1898 the Hull Corn Trade Guild was established as a society to look after the needs of members who had fallen on hard times by the Hull Corn Trade Association Ltd and in 1899 the Pacific was built with a vast trading floor and with offices and the gentleman's club above; this was called the Pacific Club. In 1906 Henry Micks was elected Chairman to the Hull Corn Trade Guild and held the post until his death in 1934. In 1928 Mr Johnson of the Hull Corn Guild commissioned Fred Elwell to paint this portrait in gratitude for his dedicated, long-standing service to the Guild. Thereafter it hung in the boardroom.
He is shown seated in the Chairman's distinctive carved chair by a window in the boardroom; interestingly this chair was made to match a set of five Charles II chairs that were used in the boardroom and were sold in the Hotham Hall auction of Hicks possessions on his death in 1934. From 1972 until 2005 they were on display in the Wilberforce Museum and are now in a private collection in the West Country.
In 1972 Johnson bequeathed the painting to the Guild; in 1992 they had the painting cleaned, revarnished and relined by James Starkey, art dealer, of Beverley; in 1993 it was loaned to the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull for the "A Life in Art" exhibition and is illustrated in Wendy Loncaster's accompanying book; between 2007 and 2013 it was on loan to the Beverley Art Gallery.
In Lancaster's book she writes "There is an arresting presence in this portrait, enhanced by the challenging gaze of the subject. Henry Micks is depicted with convincing likeness, particularly in the anatomical accuracy of the hands. The detailed depiction of the metal-framed window and the carving on the chair alludes to his existence in a real and solid world."