Can anyone help me identify the subject or artist?

[Dee1224]

I have this pen and ink drawing dated 1912 and signed with the initials GFK.

I would love to know who the girl in the picture was and/or who the artist. I am guessing the artist was a talented amateur, (as so many people seemed to be in the early 20th century due to the focus on teaching drawing at school).

I have had this drawing since I was a teenager - it was bought for me from an antique shop, so I know nothing at all about its background.

I know it’s a long shot, but I have been inspired to give it a try by another poster’s thread elsewhere in Chat.

Thanks in advance!

Reporting for duty!

Thanks @YeOldeTrot ! It was bought in Blackpool, so might have originated in the NW.

Well, artists with those initials ...

George Fiddes Watt (15 February 1873 – 22 November 1960) was a Scottishh* portrait painter and engraver

George Frederic Watts* OM RA (23 February 1817 – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolistt movement )unlikely die to dates!)

https://www.delcampe.net/en_GB/collectables/postcards/illustrators-photographers/barribal-w/jeune-femme-au-chapeau-kitty-1949369099.html

That's very good @Crucible !

It would be lovely if it was done by a proper painter @YeOldeTrot - over the years I have imagined it being a young man dashing off a sketch of a girl he fancied! (Maybe I am being romantic!)

I used to think the initials were GFH, but now I think they are GFK. It’s a bit hard to tell.

My guess would be somebody in 1912 had the Barribal postcards and used them as a pencil drawing exercise.

The image on That link by crucible is a postcard so this looks like something mass produced maybe? For the time

ru.pinterest.com/pin/120471358760228358/?send=true

https://www.wopc.co.uk/explore

Barribal was famous for designing playing cards

That’s very impressive @Crucible - it’s almost - not quite - identical- so I think you are probably right. I am guessing that it was copied rather than traced as the pen and ink doesn’t show any pencil lines underneath. That would also explain why it’s not exactly the same.

Thanks so much!

I still want to know who GFK was, but am guessing that’s probably too much of a long shot. Maybe a teenager at the time?

I think you've got it @Crucible

This is a drawing by someone who's been inspired by Barribal and his work.

@Dee1224 yeah I'd say it's definitely been hand drawn as he (or she?!) looked at the image in front of him

Thanks also for the Pinterest link @YeOldeTrot

I am so impressed @Crucible and @YeOldeTrot - I wish I had asked earlier!

Well, he was probably a George Frederick as they were very popular names at the time. Francis maybe.

@Dee1224 it's honestly the chucking about of ideas that eventually lead to the answer so don't give up on GFK yet! You already know more than you did in about ten mins so that's so good isn't it?

Thanks
I would say GFK could be a woman. I'm happy to help with detective work.

The model is named Kitty so you have at least that.

I do indeed @YeOldeTrot!

George Frederick/Francis are very good guesses!

…Now if only someone could tell me what on earth my impoverished widowed Derbyshire miner great grandfather, (who never went anywhere) and his two toddlers were doing visiting St Pancras on the night of the 1911 census, I would be very happy indeed! (Been researching my family tree and that’s a doozy!) 😹

Ooh yes, @Crucible - it could just as easily have been a woman who copied the picture - maybe for an art class?

My grandfather was a very talented amateur painter - I had a watercolour he did as a teenager but sadly it fell victim to mould when I was young and then it got lost in a house move😿

Indeed, respectable to copy, and an easily accessible art form.

Barribals wife was called Gertrude Louisa Fanny Pitt, she was his most frequent model. She isn't Kitty though, the face is different to the Gertrude pictures (an intriguing G....?)

I will have to read up on him @Crucible - I do hope Kitty wasn’t his girlfriend 😹

Whoever GFK was, (or his/her proud parent), was obviously pretty pleased with how the sketch turned out as it was mounted properly in a frame at the time of composition. It’s stood up pretty well over the years!

It's a lovely piece x

Thank you @Crucible - it has great sentimental value for me as my DM bought it for me when I was a teen.