Bidspirit auction | Francis E. Jamieson, Scotland /

Francis E. Jamieson, Scotland / UK (1895-1950), Loch Goil, Argyllshire, Sunset Highland Landscape, oil on canvas, 23 1/4” x 29”W (frame); 17 1/2”H x 23 1/2”W (sight) - Francis E. Jamieson Scotland / UK (1895-1950) Loch Goil, Argyllshire, Sunset Highland Landscape oil on canvas signed lower right. Biography from the Archives of askART: The following information is from Dr. Mike Trew (July 2024): This is but a brief synopsis of the research I have undertaken into finding the true identity of the artist who signed his work Francis E. Jamieson, along with close on 20 pseudonyms. The first and possibly the most telling aspect is that FEJ never existed - there are no birth, marriage, or death records for him in the GRO database and he does not appear in any census. So the tale about him being born in Derbyshire and later moving to London is total bunkum. Also, the need for so many pseudonyms is perplexing, especially as some pseudonyms are the names of artists who did exist - namely Aubrey Ramus and 'Phil-Hipps' (see below) - to name but two. The FEJ 'myth' was likely begun, c1910, in Islington, London, by Barnett Aubrey Ramus (1881-1956). He preferred to be known as 'Aubrey' and produced many coastal and marine watercolours. Possibly, brother Isaac Fernleigh Ramus (1879-1945) also an artist had an input too. This would explain the observation made by the 'Antiques Atlas' which refers to the FEJ watercolours as having two quite distinctive styles and subject matter. Both brothers later emigrated to Canada. It is likely that Alfred Edmund Phillips aka 'Phil-Hipps', b.1887, who lived most of his life in Kentish Town, barely two miles away from Islington and who must surely have known Aubrey Ramus, took over the mantle of perpetuating the FEJ myth in later years and it was he who drove in his car around the south of England between the wars pretending to be the artist and selling 'his' work. As with Aubrey Ramus, 'Phil-Hipps' was not a pseudonym for FEJ but the other way around. So, the art world has been fooled for over a century!! 23 1/4” x 29”W (frame); 17 1/2”H x 23 1/2”W (sight)