(Paris 1823–1903 Falmouth/ Cornwall)
“Simplicity”, signed S. Anderson, oil on canvas, 61 x 51 cm, framed

Provenance:
European Private Collection for two generations.

The French-born artist Sophie Anderson is predominantly associated with genre paintings and Victorian children subjects. Her childhood was spent in the French countryside and in Paris, but in 1848 the family left for the United States. There she established herself as a successful portrait painter. She later met her husband, Walter Anderson, who was also a painter, and moved with him to England in 1854. In 1855, she began exhibiting at the Royal Academy and she continued to do so while living abroad. In 1871, Sophie Anderson and her husband moved from London to Capri, which was an artist colony at that time. Its residents included Frederic Leighton and John Singer Sargent among others. While best known for her sentimental pictures, she often painted young women as seen in this painting. Simplicity displays Anderson’s Pre-Raphaelite interest - a young woman seems lost in thought with her long auburn hair loose on her shoulders. Anderson adorned her model with a coral necklace and earrings which could be a reminder of Capri. Sophie Anderson is considered one of the most successful female artists of her generation.