‘STUNNING’ STILL LIFE BY ELOISE HARRIET STANNARD GOES UNDER THE HAMMER IN KEYS’ EAST ANGLIAN ART SALE
A ‘stunning’ still life by 19th century Norfolk artist Eloise Harriet Stannard is one of the star lots in Keys Fine Art Auctioneers’ second East Anglian Art Sale of 2026, which takes place on Friday 24th July.
Dated 1887, the painting is a still life study of fruit on a marble ledge or plinth, measuring 49cm x 44cm. The pre-sale estimate is £3,000-£4,000.
Born in Norwich in 1829, Eloise Harriet Stannard was one of 14 children of the landscape painter Alfred Stannard; her uncle was the painter Joseph Stannard. She was very much influenced by traditional Dutch still life painting, especially the artist Jan van Huysum.
In an era when it was very unusual for female artists’ work to be widely exhibited, her paintings were shown at (among others) the British Institution, the Royal Academy of Art, the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Glasgow Institute. She died in 1915, the day after her 86th birthday.
Keys’ head of pictures Daniel Smith commented, “Eloise Stannard still lifes remain very sought-after in the saleroom, and it’s not hard to see why: the composition of the pictures, often in direct sunlight, gives them a luminosity, enhanced by the use of several superimposed layers and very fine brushwork.
“This is a stunning example or her work, and it has already elicited a lot of interest from collectors around the world.”
A full online catalogue for the sale can be found at www.keysauctions.co.uk.