While he fails to trouble the compilers of E. Benezit’s 14-volume Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, he does merit a fleeting mention in the Antique Collectors’ Club Research Project’s Dictionary of British Artists where he is listed as a black and white artist (Exh. 1898) living in South Kensington with one Royal Academy exhibit to his name.
Nonetheless, for all his obscurity, Fred Jane was clearly an artist capable of producing pictures which appeal to today’s market, as shown when this signed 2ft 51/2in x 3ft 3in (75cm x 1.01m) canvas, right, inscribed, Arrival at Paddington Station, came under the hammer with an estimate of £200-400
at the Sherborne rooms of Charterhouse (15% buyer’s premium) on August 8.
Thought to date from the second or
third decade of the 20th century and in untouched condition in its original frame, this attracted plenty of commissions at around £500, but on the day it was bought by a determined private bidder on the
telephone at £2000.
The artist now arriving...
Fred T. Jane is a turn-of-the-century artist who doesn’t make much of an impact in the sort of standard reference works that line the office walls of serious auctioneers and dealers.
