110603

Amy Gardiner, Nanny to John de Laszlo 1918

Head and shoulders slightly to the left, wearing a white blouse, looking beyond the viewer to the right

Graphite and charcoal on paper, 26.7 x 19 cm (17 ½ x 10 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: In souvenir / from Johny to his / good nanny / 1918. June 18 / P A de László

Private Collection

This drawing was made in the nursing home at 20 Ladbroke Gardens, Notting Hill, where the artist was being cared for from May to December 1918. It was there, under house arrest following nine months of internment, that he was given the freedom to draw and paint once again.^[1] In his journal of 1918, de László reflected on the medium of pencil, remarking: “Drawing often interests me much more than painting. It is so much more difficult and serious… drawing is reduced to lines in one colour – the black or the red pencil, which is far more difficult, as it requires still more knowledge and understanding.”^[2]

Amy Gardiner was aged thirty when the drawing was made. A small woman, under 5’ tall, she is described by those who knew her as having “the heart of a lion,”^[3] which, together with an air of modesty, is reflected in de László’s drawing. The impression of her strength of character is offset by the soft and careful shading, and the flowing, rhythmic lines that are characteristic of the artist’s mature style.

Born in 1888, Amy Gardiner was the illegitimate daughter of John Reade, a soldier from Bromley, Kent, and Elizabeth Parker, a seamstress, also from Bromley. In her recollections, recorded and transcribed by one of her charges, Amy tells of the trauma, when she was five, of being taken to the Foundling Hospital by her foster mother and left there to be raised.^[4] Hitherto she had assumed her foster parents to be her true parents. There, one of the teachers took an instant dislike to her, and made her life very difficult for the next eleven years she spent there. The routine was one of confinement, punishment and harsh discipline. The only holidays were on Christmas and Boxing Day: on this occasion, each orphan was given a present by the Governors of the Foundation, only to be asked to return it two days later. Even a painful visit to hospital was a treat to her. She remained at the Thomas Coram Foundation until the age of sixteen. Her only education it seems was instruction in sewing.

Amy was sent as a parlour maid in the service of Mrs Paine around 1904, and it soon became clear that she had a natural talent for the care of children. She became a nanny and, despite, or maybe because of her unhappy childhood, she lavished love and tenderness on her charges. Mrs Paine nevertheless had to part with her because a fellow and more senior member of her staff became jealous of Amy, and threatened to leave. The school then placed her with two elderly ladies, but again she had to leave because of the animosity of another member of the household staff. Then she was sent to work for a family where her master repeatedly tried to assault her. Drawing the conclusion that she could not hold a job down, the orphanage sent her to a house for fallen women, through which she was given several placements, many of which she lost because of her naivety and ignorance of the outside world.

One day, when she was in a park with one of her charges, a woman in the service of the de Lászlós, seeing how well she looked after children, asked her to come and see Mrs de László, who was looking for a nanny. Thus, in 1915, she joined the de László household, taking care of the artist’s five sons, “the dear boys”, as she called them.^[5] In her recollections, she said that this marked the beginning of the happiest years of her life. Stephen, who was then twelve, liked her so much that he expressed the wish to marry her when he grew up. She too was very fond of him, but she took a particular liking to Patrick, who was considered naughty, and not much loved by other members of staff, who rather doted on John, at three the youngest of the family. Every night, during her first week, the artist would come and see her to enquire whether his sons had been good boys, especially asking about Patrick. As she gave such good reports of him, at the end of the week, de László said: “I know somebody who loves somebody”, and went away smiling.^[6] Patrick certainly felt the same way, and once told his mother he wished Amy could have been their sister.^[7] Throughout her life, Amy liked ‘naughty’ children, possibly because she could identify with those who were criticised by their parents. It is not clear how long she remained in the service of the de Lászlós, but it is thought she left around 1919, possibly at the point when John would have been sent to prep school, age seven or eight.  

Throughout their lives, the boys kept in touch with ‘Nanna,’ as they affectionately called her. She was eighty-five when it was decreed that Foundling children should have the right to know about the identity of their parents, and only then did she discover her real name. Born Hilda Agnes Parker, she was baptised and named Amy Gardiner upon admission to the Foundling Hospital. She never married and died in 1997 at the age of one hundred and nine.

LITERATURE:

Sitter’s recollections recorded and compiled by one of her charges for private circulation

CC 2008