H J Ford - Venus's Fly Trap

Estimate £20,000 - £30,000
signed 'H J Ford' (lower left) and inscribed 'VENUS'S FLY TRAP' (lower centre within the decorated border) and further inscribed 'This could be reduced to ... by ... for the cover of the book!' (lower left, in the margin, overmounted)
pencil and watercolour heightened with bodycolour on paper
15¾ x 12 5/8 in.

Ford was educated at Repton and acquired a First Class degree in Classics from Cambridge before entering the Slade to study art. He also attended Herkomer's art school at Bushey. Between 1892 and 1930 he exhibited at the Royal Academy, though he is most highly regarded as an illustrator, particularly of the books of legends and fairy stories which Andrew and Leonora Lang edited for Longmans from 1899. He was an associate of Burne-Jones, whose influence on his work is evident.


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