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Sir John Lavery RA RSA RHA (1856-1941)
PORTRAIT OF A LADY [THOUGHT TO BE MARGRIT HÖLLRIGL]
oil on board
signed lower right; with stamp of Reeves & Sons London on reverse; also indistinctly inscribed “V. Höllrigel?”
in pencil on reverse
1
14 by 9.75in. (35.56 by 24.77cm)
Before embarking on a large canvas, John Lavery would often plan his composition on a standard 14 by 10 inch canvas
board of the type manufactured by Reeves and Sons or Winsor and Newton.These travelled with him as part of his painting
kit and often, when used for portraits, they were inscribed, dedicated and presented to a sitter at the conclusion of sittings.
2
In many cases the informality and experimental nature of these ‘souvenirs’ adds to their charm. Lavery would respond to the
flash of personality or, as in the present instance, the visual drama of a striking coat, dress or hat. He was, as he told a
reporter in 1912, an admirer of modern dress design. It contained ‘many attractive features from an artist’s point of view and
… [presented] opportunities for artistic treatment that have been equaled by few periods of fashion’.The comparisons he
was asked to make were with Titian, Velázquez, Van Dyck and Gainsborough.
The present work, which first appeared in Germany, may represent one of Lavery’s Berlin subjects. Around 1900 the artist
was working for extended winter periods in the German capital, having secured introductions from August Neven du Mont,
a wealthy expatriate painter who lived close to him in Cromwell Road, London.
3
He was, as he later remarked, ‘anglicising the
German Frau … a popular accomplishment to possess’, and one that was only arrested by
the Boer War and the emerging conflict between German and British Imperial ambitions in
Africa.
4
Nevertheless such was the volume of work produced during these sojourns that the
painter was able to stage three exhibitions at Schulte’s Gallery, Berlin, in 1899, 1902 and
1904.
Many of the paintings shown in these exhibitions have disappeared. One notable survivor is
however,
La Dame aux Perles,
(Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin) (fig. 1), a picture which, despite its
French title, represents a Hungarian salon hostess, Margrit Höllrigl (later Gräfin/Countess
Margrit Bubna-Litic). Although she came from a lowly background in Budapest, Höllrigl
presented herself to Berlin society at the turn of the twentieth century as an Austrian
Baronness.
5
Studies for her portrait have not survived, although given the relative prestige of
the subject, and the picture’s subsequent importance in the Lavery
oeuvre,
it seems
inconceivable that no sketches of Höllrigl were made.
6
It is just possible that the present
‘souvenir’, along with one other, now known as
Lady in a Green Coat
(Private Collection), fill
this gap in our knowledge – although this remains to be proven.
Prof Kenneth McConkey
February, 2013
1
Various readings of this inscription are possible. It appears not to be in the artist’s hand.
2
Although clearly autographed, the present picture is not inscribed with a dedication in the artist’s hand, and it seems unlikely that it comes
as part of a commission.We cannot however be certain that the practice of dedicating sketches was adopted when the painter was working
in Germany.
3
August Neven du Mont, the Anglophile painter, was the son of a newspaper proprietor who married into the von Guilleaume dynasty of
Cologne industrialists - who in turn provided Lavery with a number of commissions during his German seasons.
4
Kenneth McConkey,
John Lavery, A Painter and his World
, 2010, (Atelier Books), pp. 74-6.
5
Margrit Höllrigl first moved to Vienna in the 1890s where she appears to have worked initially as an actress. Adding the aristocratic ‘von’ to
her name, and trading on her looks and magnetic personality, she moved to Berlin where she secured the patronage of Adolph Friedrich,
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg and other wealthy aristocratic male admirers, living in style up to the Great War on the proceeds of blackmail.
During the twenties she moved to America, where all records of her disappear. I am grateful to Andreas Frost for this information.
6
Walter Shaw Sparrow,
John Lavery and his Work
, n.d., [1912], p. 134; McConkey 2010, pp. 174-6.
!
10,000-
!
15,000 (£8,500-£12,800 approx.)
WHYTES
SINCE 1783
,
Fig 1
La Dame aux Perles, 1899
,
Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin
