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Frank Moss Bennet:
Portrait, 1924
Framed (ref: 13)
Signed and dated

Oil on canvas, 48 3/4 x 32 5/8 in. (124 x 83 cm.)

Tags: Frank Moss Bennet oil

Overall dimensions in its original Chapman and Brothers polished fruitwood frame: 58 1/4 x 42 1/2 in. (148 x 108 cm.) 

Provenance: The John Stewart Parry Collection

Frank Moss Bennett is best known for his genre and historical subjects; though technically brilliant, these paintings appear today somewhat dated and formulaic. This portrait, though evocative of a previous era, retains all of its vitality. Whilst the artist is recorded as undertaking portrait commissions (see National Portrait Gallery, accession no. 1555), he rarely portrayed figures in contemporary dress.

The intimacy of the portrait suggests that it is possibly a friend or family member. The sitter is fashionably dressed, wearing a high-cut collar and a pale-coloured lounge suit popularised by the Prince of Wales after the Great War.