‘Mr Benn’ portraits up for auction
HISTORIC paintings of a wealthy 19th century family are going up for auction – despite being mocked for looking like “something out of Mr Benn”.
The quirky portraits, painted in a folk-art style and found in an attic during a house move, show the women dressed in stunning gowns, but with comically cartoon faces.
The subjects in the artwork are from the Williams family, who lived at Pencoed Castle, near Newport, in the 19th century.
Online jokers have mocked the oil paintings.
One person wrote: “I personally think they look hideous and I’d be asking for my money back if I was painted like that.”
Another said: “My seven-year-old could do a better job at painting a portrait. The eyes and noses are all wrong.”
One joker said: “They look like something out of Mr Benn. I thought they were bringing the cartoon back.”
But some fans were quick to defend the pieces for having “charm and character”.
One fan said: “I think their simplicity is what makes them really charming and lovely to look at.”
Another said: “They are a slice of history and a good example of folk-art, where traditional rules of proportion don’t apply.”
There are four generations in the paintings including Margaret Williams snr, her eldest daughter Amelia, granddaughter Margaret and an infant greatgrandchild.
The Williams family worked the land at the castle until figurehead Margaret snr retired in 1895.
The castle estate went up for public auction and her son Thomas moved with his family to Bridgnorth in the Midlands.
Margaret junior also moved to the area – meaning the portraits were likely to have been passed through generations in the area.
Art specialist Abigail Molenaar, of Halls Fine Art Auctioneers, unravelled the mystery behind the paintings.
She contacted genealogist researcher Michael Edwards, from Athena Ancestry, who turned out to be the great-great nephew of Margaret Williams Snr.
Ms Molenaar said: “I love a good mystery, one of my favourite aspects of being an auction specialist is coming across a painting about which nothing is known and trying to identify the sitter and piece-by-piece seek to reconstruct the history of an artwork.”
The portraits will be up for auction at Hall’s Fine Art on March 17.