Halliday, Michael F. (1822-1869) - The Measure for the Wedding Ring 1855

"The Measure for the Wedding Ring" is a painting by the British artist Michael F. Halliday, completed in 1855. It is a portrait of a young woman having her finger measured for a wedding ring. The painting captures a moment of anticipation and love, symbolising the beginning of married life. 

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Michael Frederick Halliday (1822-1869) was an English amateur artist.

He was born to Michael, a captain in the navy, and Jane Hester in 1822. From 1839 until his death he was a clerk in the parliament office, House of Lords. He cultivated a taste for painting in later years with much energy and fair success.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1853 a view of Moel Shabod from the Capel Curig Road. In 1856 he exhibited The Measure for the Wedding Ring, and two scenes from the Crimean War; the former attracted much notice and was engraved. He exhibited in 1857 The Sale of a Heart, in 1858 The Blind Basket-maker with his First Child, in 1864 A Bird in the Hand, and in 1866 Roma vivente e Roma morta. He contributed an etching of The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies to the edition of Hood's Poems published by the Junior Etching Club in 1858.

Halliday was one of the earliest members of the Pre-Raphaelite school of painting. He was also an enthusiastic volunteer, a first-rate rifle-shot, and one of the first English Eight who competed for the Elcho Shield at Wimbledon in 1862. He doesn't appear to have married.

He died at the age of 47 after a short illness at Thurloe Place, South Kensington, on 1 June 1869, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery.