Signorina Estella

Augustus Edwin John R.A., O.M. 1878 - 1961

Summary

Three-quarter length, left side profile portrait of Signorina Estella Dolores Cerutti, an Italian singer. Dressed in cream, with hands clasped together at her waist, holding a white handkerchief. She has long dark hair plaited down her back, and turns to look at the viewer. Light falls from the left across her face and front.

Display Label

Signorina Estella about 1900 Augustus Edwin John 1878-1961 Oil on canvas Estella Dolores Cerutti was a young Italian pianist who lived in the flat below Augustus John and his first wife Ida at 18 Fitzroy Street, London. Estella’s talent, her majestic figure and immaculate attire prompted Ida to make herself new clothes. ‘For how can one wear grey linen by her silks and laces,’ she complained. Augustus John was born in Tenby, South Wales and trained at the Slade School of Art in London, becoming Professor of Painting at Liverpool from 1901-04. He was just beginning his career when he painted Signorina Estella but the fame he had already achieved in artistic circles soon spread, and in the mid-Edwardian years he was considered an almost incomparably gifted artist. Purchased 1923.24