Portrait

This is one of my favorite pieces of John R. Neill artwork in my collection. It's a lovely pastel portrait, and I don't know if it was ever published - there are no notes or indications on it. This shows yet another medium Neill worked in - aside from pen & ink, watercolor, ink wash, and graphite. Although it has no obvious Oz connection, I tend to think of it as a portrait of Ozma - it's reminiscent of his images of her in The Emerald City of Oz.

Apparently, Neill did not do any oil paintings - which seems a little odd. He did have a set of oils, which his granddaughter now owns, and he was commissioned by a fan to do a large Oz mural in oils for above a fireplace - but that is the only mention I've ever seen of any work of that sort. Oils aren't something you just dive into without some practice - so I wonder if there ever were any other paintings by him? Many of the major illustrators of his time did do large scale paintings - perhaps he just didn't like that method of working. Still, an oil painting by Neill is something I'd love to run across.