Lot 172: Frederic James Shields, A.R.W.S. (1833-1911)

Head study of a young girl
with inscription 'Study of a head/by Frederic Shields/A.R.W.S./B.1833 died March 1911' (on a label attached to the backboard)
black, red and white chalks, on grey paper
15 x 13 1/4 in. (38 x 33.5 cm.)

Shields responded intensely to female beauty. In 1874, at the age of forty, he married a very pretty but totally uneducated girl of sixteen, and proceeded, in true Victorian fashion, to try and turn her into a young lady. He adopted her younger sister, Jessie, who was to marry the Rev. B. Scott in 1893 and whose early death was 'a terrible grief' to Shields.

A head study by Shields was sold Christie's, London, 28 November 2000, lot 65, £ 16,450.

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis