3-021-029 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Young St. George", by E. Lundgren, in the Fine-Art Gallery, Haymarket, 1868. Engraving of a painting. 'Among the few foreign artists who excel in water-colour painting, or who...successfully rival in this country our own many proficients in that fascinating art, the Swedish painter, Mr. Lundgren, holds a distinguished place. His fancy single-figure subjects, chiefly of beautiful females,...are irresistibly taking, and have consequently attained considerable popularity. Severe critics may object, not altogether without justice, that the painter's feeling sometimes inclines to artificiality in the character, expression, and execution of his heads. Yet, that he has a genuine and more than ordinarily refined sense of loveliness and grace is undeniable; whilst his colouring effect and handling are remarkable for richness, force, and spirit. The charming child's head, which we have engraved from Mr. Tooth's gallery, is a favourable example of the painter. For such a delightful little subject the romantic fiction of the title is surely pardonable. One could hardly picture to oneself a little fellow better entitled by good looks and sturdy promise of strength to represent the infancy of the great legendary hero and patron saint of merry England'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.