The Gwilt Family By Armand Melincourt-Lefebvre

A pair of paintings on artists’ board by Armand Constant Melincourt-Lefebvre 1810–1883 George Gwilt, sitting and holding an unfurled representation of the Church of the Saviour, Southwark, behind him is a folio titled Bow Church, St. Mary-le-Bow, the spire of which was restored and rebuilt by Gwilt in 1820.

George Gwilt (the younger (1775-1856), was an English architect, his principle claim to fame is probably the restoration of the east end of the Church of the Saviour, Southwark, now the cathedral of that diocese. Gwilt was born in Southwark on the 8th May 1775, the eldest son of George Gwilt……the elder, also an architect, his son being articled to him and succeeding him in the business of architecture. George Gwilt the younger was very fully employed from his beginnings, his first major commission, shared jointly with his father, coming from the West India Dock Company and the building of their large warehouses in what was to become Docklands. Gwilt himself was very much drawn to academic study rather than the active practice of architecture and he devoted a considerable amount of his time to archaeological pursuits. He wrote many papers for the Society of Antiquaries being elected a fellow at the end of 1815. He was a contributor to Illustrations of the Public Buildings of London by Britton and Pugin.

The pendant of the pair probably shows us his wife, Mary Ann nee Applegath, the step-daughter of landscape architect John Busch. The boy at her right hand shoulder would seem to be their youngest and only surviving son, the two elder sons, both promising architects, died when still quite young.

The Gwilts had five daughters, amongst them was Hannah with a keen interest in astronomy, the donor of the Jackson-Gwilt Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Sarah, whose younger son was the early Australian photographer, Edward Haldane Cotsworth, and the commissioner of these paintings from Melioncourt, Aderline. Her son was to become the painter Martin Gwilt Jolley (1859-1916).

Both fully inscribed to the reverse; the pendant signed Melincourt, right hand side above the spaniel. Armand Constant Melincourt-Lefebvre 1810–1883 was born in Dieppe, a painter of genre and portraits. He studied under Paul Delaroche and exhibited at the Salon de Paris between 1844 and 1876. The Museum of Dieppe is a major holder of his works.

Both within their original French gilt gesso frames of a design favoured by the artist.

The works 6 1/2 in x 8 1/8 in o.s: 10.75 in x 12.5 in