4189

Lady Lettice Cotterell, née Lady Lettice Lygon 1931

Seated half-length slightly to the right, head turned in three-quarter profile to the left, wearing a pale off the shoulder evening gown, with a chiffon stole round her shoulders, her left elbow resting on the arm of the sofa with her hand raised to her neck, holding a string of pearls in her right hand resting on a blue stole in her lap

Oil on canvas, 100.4 x 75 cm (39 ½ x 29 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: 1931 de László

Laib L17047(151) / C6(11)  

NPG Album 1931, p. 31

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 69: Lettice Cotterell June 13th. 1931.

Private Collection

This portrait was commissioned by the sitter’s father-in-law Sir John Cotterell [4183] as a pendant to that of her husband Richard Geers Cotterell [4187]. Both were painted between July and September 1931 and have matching frames. De László struggled with the commission and put two canvases aside before completing the present picture. A three-quarter length [112618] and a half-length [7977] both remained in the artist’s studio until his death. The former was destroyed in accordance with the terms of his will and the latter is now in a private collection. De László also painted the sitter’s mother-in-law [4185] in 1913 and sister-in-law [9975] in 1924.  

On 15 May 1931 the artist met with Sir John Cotterell and his “smart guard son - & pretty daughter in law Lady Lettis [sic]” at his studio to discuss their portraits.^[1] Sittings for the first began 13 June and de László recorded in his diary: “During the morning Lady Lettice Cotterell came to sit for her portrait, She has a nice face but em[p]ty and to[o] tall – unpleasantly high – I think to have taken her Head from the best sight – her sister came with her – pretty blond – something of a Titian – but so em[p]ty, their [sic] she sat during the morning without saying a single word and no interest in a studio she never has been before.”^[2] 

On 23 June he put aside the portrait and began a new canvas the next day [7977], “as her h[e]ad was to[o] hard in troiscare [sic, i.e. ‘de trois-quart’^[3]]. Good lady is so banal, so little charm – enface [sic, i.e. full face] will – be better – more graceful.”^[4] 

The artist documented further sittings in his diary on 25, 26 and 30 June, and 13, 20, 23 and 24 July. On 23 July he noted: “During the morning painted Lady Lettice Cotterell…with the blue drapery hunging [sic] from her – she looked – surprisingly long – I hoped to finish today – but must have another hour.”^[5] However, 24 July he began yet another new portrait of Lady Lettice, as he had “lost pleasure in the first – in spite of it would have been finished by me one more sitting – I am more satisfied with the new one it has more movement & interest – she is to[o] tall – ungraceful – by nature.”^[6] 

The second sitting for the new portrait took place 11, 13-16 August. De László did not finish the hands on the final sitting before he had to leave for Baden-Baden, the spa town where he often went for a rest from the demands of portrait painting. According to his diary it was completed after his return 10 October, noting: “her portrait gives me satisfaction.”^[7]

Lady Lettice Lygon was born 16 June 1906, the eldest daughter of the 7th Earl of Beauchamp (1872-1938) and his wife Lady Lettice Grosvenor (1876-1936). The family moved between Madresfield Court in Worcestershire, Halkyn House in Belgrave Square and Walmer Castle, her father’s official residence as the Warden of the Cinque Ports. Their mother was very pious and while at Madresfield they attended Anglo-Catholic services twice daily in the house chapel. Their father encouraged them to engage in physical exercise and they spent much of their time hunting and swimming.

As a debutante Lettice was one of the “Bright Young Things” and much noticed in the press as one of the tallest and prettiest of them. The Sketch reported that she “made the headlines for her appearance in a circus party where she performed a comic cycling act, while her hostess danced the Charleston in a top hat and red shoes.”^[8] On 16 June 1930 she married Captain Richard Charles Geers Cotterell at St Margaret’s, Westminster. There were four children of the marriage: Rose Evelyn (born 1932), Anne Lettice (born 1933), John Henry Geers (born 1935) and Thomas Richard Geers (born 1939). The marriage was dissolved by divorce in 1958. Lady Cotterell did not remarry and died 15 June 1973.

The sitter was also painted by Simon Elwes and that portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1927.

LITERATURE:

•The Sketch, 9 May 1934, p. 259, ill.

•László, Philip de, 1931 diary, private collection

MD & KF 2020