The Lady in White

Sir John Lavery 1856 - 1941

Summary

A half-length, left side portrait of a woman in a white dress, wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat decked with white flowers. She stands with her hands behind her back, her head turned towards the viewer, and one side of her face in shadow from the brim of her hat. The brushwork is very visible.

Display Label

The Lady in White about 1900 Sir John Lavery 1856-1941 Oil on panel This is one of a number of small portrait studies which Lavery made in the ten years after 1895. Often these are trial sketches for finished works, but this one seems to be purely experimental. There was a fashion during the Edwardian period for freely-painted and unfinished portrait studies. These not only responded to Impressionist handling but also recalled earlier masters of British portraiture, particularly Gainsborough and Lawrence. The subject is possibly Lavery's young German model, Mary Auras, who became his daughter's friend. An Irishman, he trained in Paris and lived in Glasgow, before settling in London as a member of the NEAC. George Beatson Blair bequest 1947.77