Painting of lady walking at night, circa 1880.The painting measures 16 inches by 32 inches, and the frame measures 25 inches by 40 inches.

Davids notes: this painting was discovered in a NYC storage locker that contained mostly theatrical items. The painting probably illustrates a famous novel from the 19th century, it likely dates from the 1880s.

The theme of women walking at night in a garden or lush vegetation landscape was very popular with the Pre-Raphaelites, that liked to illustrate Camelot era themes of virtue and sexual awakening in dream like surroundings, where nymphs crawled out of swamps and knights flirted with damsels loosely based on Shakespeare plays or storybook legends. Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John William Waterhouse excelled at these creations, which now hang in museums around the world. The present lot appears to be unsigned, but the themes are there, the Greek profile of the lady, the mysterious walk at night, the darkness and the lush surroundings. It could also be just a painting that illustrates a dream from a novel or play, hence the connection with the other theatrical items in the storage locker, but ultimately we don't know either way. A beautiful mysterious painting, that has a nice period feeling about it.

Good condition overall