The Dining Room at Charleston Manor
oil on canvas
73.5 x 62cm

Provenance:
By descent to the artist's wife, Lady Birley (1899-1981),
Her sale, Christie's, held on the premises, Charleston Manor, Alfriston, Sussex; The remaining contents of Sir Oswald Birley's Studio, together with pictures and sculpture by other artists..., 13 October 1980, lot 20

The favourite painter of the elite and fashionable classes on both sides of the Atlantic, Oswald Birley’s formal portrait commissions have traditionally eclipsed - what he termed - his ‘off-duty’ works. These works, painted informally and principally for pleasure, included his still lifes, landscapes, interior scenes and architectural studies.

Depicting the dining room at Charleston Manor, the present lot is an informal and intimate glimpse of Birley’s personal life. Like his portraiture, the present lot does not simply represent the view at Charleston, but, through the inclusion of paintings, ornaments and fine furnishings, presents the artist as a refined and cultured gentleman.

Condition Report

The painting is executed in oil on a canvas support. The canvas tension is slightly slack. The paint layers are in a good, stable condition overall. There are some localised areas of wear and abrasion. The painting is unvarnished and there is a light layer of dirt present.
Framed 84.5 x 73cm