Girl with Flowers, oil on canvas. Signed l.r., 19th century, housed in original frame, with inscriptions to verso stretcher

A fine example by Pre-Raphaelite painter and illustrator George Dunlop Leslie (English, 1835-1921).  Depicting a girl in luminous white dress and cap, seated at a bench with basket of flowers in hand, and surrounded by nature.  The sitter is collecting flowers, taking a respite from her task, as Leslie had a penchant for this kind of subject depicting ladies and housemaids and floral arrangements.  Leslie was a part of the St. John's Wood Clique, a group of artists that were partial to lighthearted genre paintings, often depicting gentry. 

In this example, Leslie's depiction is eerily similar to several of the painter's best known genre subjects- notably The Garland (undated)- depicting a pair of women arranging a garland of flowers, as well as Sun and Moon Flowers (1890), again with a pair of of women clipping fresh flowers.  In each known example, a figure depicted is eerily similar to the sitter in the portrait offered here, and might be Kitty Lambert, who was a favorite model of the artist.

Cleaned, but otherwise in excellent state of preservation.  Never lined, housed in original frame.