11879

Preparatory work

Jewell Allcroft 1934

Half-length slightly to the right, her hands crossed in front of her, wearing a shawl

Oil on canvasboard, 40.6 x 33 cm (16 x 13 in.)

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 79: Jewell Allcroft / Nov. 15th 1934.

Studio Inventory, p. 61 (319): Miss Jewell Allcroft (study). Presented to Miss Allcroft under the Gifts Clause of the Artist’s Will. The Portrait for which this is a study being also in her possession.

Private Collection

This picture remained in the artist’s studio until his death and was later presented to Jewell Allcroft under the Gifts Clause of the Artist’s Will. It was accompanied by a  certificate of authenticity dated 18 July 1938, signed by the artist’s son Paul and the family solicitor, Hugh Rowcliffe, as well as a sheet of black edged notepaper with the inscription: with Mrs. de László’s compliments, 23rd July 1938.

The family kept the brown wrapping paper in which the picture was sent to the sitter at Stokesay Court. The package was tied with string and sealed with ivory-coloured sealing wax. The finished portrait was already in the possession of the sitter [2217].

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [2217].

LITERATURE:

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, pp. 256-258

KF 2016