Mystery Portrait
This portrait of Jean Butler (1949) by Augustus John is up for auction on 13 November and will soon be on show at Oriel Washington Gallery, Penarth, Wales. It's expected to fetch up to £30,000. The mystery is that the sitter is unknown to the art world - not one of John's many famous patrons - and she seems to have been the apple of John's eye, judging by his dedication on the back of the painting: "To my love. The head and shoulders of Jean Butler. 1949." The work has been in private hands for 50 years and this is the first time it will be on display in Wales. What the gallery wants to know is: Does anyone know of John's lost love? To put it bluntly: Did painting this beauty's portrait permit John to score?
posted by Unknown @ 4.11.08
4 comments
4 Comments:
Well it wasn’t this “friend” of his sister’s.
http://dorsetsculpture.blogspot.com/2008/04/gwen-john-mysterious-sister.html
It is nevertheless intriguing, just what a gallery needs to hype the price up. Any work of art with a little “dinning out story” will deliver more £s. In this case I think the painting probably deserves it, on artistic merit! Great painting and post Ian!
Hi, Robert
Thanks for the compliment and the link. I agree this is a lovely story to gain publicity for the auction and jack up the price. The BBC swallowed it and so did I. But the portrait was well worth posting regardless of the story.
How's your visit to London coming along? Seen the Titian yet?
Yes, yesterday, undecided only on how to express my opinion! I will need to contemplate on a careful and better spelt comment or you will be “dinning” out on me for the rest of the year!
Hi, Robert
"Dining out" does make more sense!
Thanks for the sister link. I'm about to post the friend's piccies (2 huge bitmaps into a jpg less than 10Kb). What a miserable girl!
Post a Comment
<< Home