Mary Ellen Best (British, 1809-1891)'Portrait of Frank, Caroline and Fred, November 1845'
signed and dated 'Mary Ellen Sarg 1st November 1845' (lower right)
watercolour heightened with gum arabic
25.4 x 18.1cm (10 x 7 1/8in).注脚Provenance
The family of the artist by descent.

Literature
Caroline Davidson, The World of Mary Ellen Best, London, Chatto & Windus Ltd., 1985, illustrated in colour p. 131, fig. 128.

Mary Ellen Best was born in York, October 1809 to Dr Charles Best, a prominent Yorkshire physician, and Mary Norcliffe Dalton daughter or a Yorkshire landowner. Dr Best died when Mary Ellen was only eight, leaving her to be raised by her mother, who never remarried, and her two sisters. Inheritance from her mean that a good education was affordable and that she would not have to work for a living or marry for financial reasons, leaving adequate time to study painting both at Mrs. Haugh's school in Doncaster and later Miss Shepherd's school in Bromley.

In 1828 Best returned to Yorkshire to embark on a career as a painter. Lot 31 is a sketch book dating from this period when Best was still learning here trade and taking every opportunity to practice, travelling throughout Yorkshire sketching landscapes, country houses and churches They are testament to the dedication shown by the young artist and a great marker for her progression.

Best travelled extensively in Europe during her career, her first trip being in 1934 with her mother. Instead of following the well beaten track to Italy the pair travelled through Holland into Germany, stopping at Rotterdam along the way. The view of Rotterdam, lot 28, was likely either painted during the brief stay during this first trip or during her second foray onto the continent in 1938 when she spent two months exploring Holland, including a stay in Leyden as seen in lot 29. This second trip came after the death of Best's mother in March 1837. The inheritance Best received at this time meant she could live comfortably without having to sell to dealers or exhibit her work and afforded her the luxury of being able to travel as much as she pleased. Indeed, it is clear that Best enjoyed travelling, returning for a three month tour in June 1939 including a stay in Dusseldorf to paint the town's colourful costumes as seen in lot 27.

It was late September in Dusseldorf, during this trip, that Best met her future husband, Johann Anton Phillip Sarg, a German schoolmaster and ambitious musician. In what appears to be whirlwind romance she left Dusseldorf a few weeks later engaged to marry, the wedding taking place on the 15th January 1840. The couple spent the early stages of the married life in Nuremburg and Frankfurt during which time they had three children Frank, Caroline and Fred. The family returned to England intermittently but lived mainly in Germany and Belgium. Mary Ellen Best died of pneumonia in Darmstadt in May 1891at the age of eighty-one.

An appreciation of Best's watercolors is best supplemented by Caroline Davidson's comprehensive work on the artist's life and oeuvre (The World of Mary Ellen Best, Chatto & Windus Ltd., London, 1985) which features most of the present collection.