Charles Henry Malcolm Kerr, RBA (1858-1907)
An Italian Woman
Oil on canvas
Inscribed to verso (illustrated)
Measures
Image 39 cms by 49 cms
Outer Frame 50 cms by 60 cms
Born in London, Kerr was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. On leaving Oxford he studied at the Royal Academy Schools and at the Académie Julian in Paris. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and also the Royal Society of British Artists and New English Art Club. In 1890 he was elected a Member of the Royal Society of British Artists.
Kerr was also a successful book illustrator for H. Rider Haggard (various titles), Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Wrong Box 1899, and Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Sign of the Four 1890.
Although he married Gertrude Lizzie Giles, who posed for his 1905 painting 'The Visitor', now in the collection of the Tate, tragically Kerr became increasingly dependent upon morphine and, despite several valiant attempts to beat the curse of his addiction, Kerr died in 1907 at the early age of 49.