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| Image | Sale date | Auction house | Location | Sale name | Lot No. | Estimate | Price Sold | Condition | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 21, 2015 | Bonhams | London | 19th Century European, Victorian and British Impressionist Art | 95 | $****** - ****** | Portrait of Lucy Stern |
paintings
126 x 85 cm (49.61 x 33.46 in)
oil on canvas
signed with monogram and dated 1882 (lower right)
The family of the sitter,thence by direct descent to the present owner,
Private collection, South Africa
London, Royal Academy, 1882, no. 29,London, Grosvenor Gallery, 1886, no. 90,London, Royal Academy, 1898, no. 42Sir John Everett Millais's position as the leading portraitist of the day was secure by the time he the present lot at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1882. From the mid 1850s he had been moving away from his purely Pre-Raphaelite technique of painting in great detail on a wet white ground, and by the early 1880s he had developed a broader technique in the tradition of Reynolds. These were the years of his great portraits of Disraeli, Gladstone, Cardinal Newman and Tennyson. The stature of these sitters illustrates how Millais was the portraitist of choice for the Victorian establishment, just as the present lot illustrates the artist's popularity among the rising plutocracy of bankers, industrialists and professionals, as well as the more traditional aristocracy. During this period, Millais was earning over £30,000 per annum, an income underpinned by portraiture. This was a huge sum for the day, though with a large family and household to support, one which was necessary.The two works have a lot in common: the subjects are portrayed in three quarter length, holding silk gloves and a fan; the attention given to the lacework of the dresses and jewellery, and the subtle decorative backgrounds (identified as an Aubusson tapestry in the present lot, according to a contemporary review in The Athenaeum) are very similar and speak of two society hostesses who were both leading figures in London society, and in particular the Jewish community. The slightly haughty expression of Mrs. Bischoffsheim is not present in Mrs. Stern, her soft expression being complimented by the light Rococo style backdrop. She is shown in a relaxed informal pose, comfortable in her privileged but understated surroundings. The artist was known to be particularly proud of both portraits and they were highly praised when at the Royal Academy
