10066

CUT DOWN

Lady Waechter de Grimston, née Armatrude Hobart 1915

Half-length head turned slightly and looking to the left, wearing an organza stole over her blue gown, a small bouquet of violets at her breast, her Bruxells Griffon dog just visible on her lap

Oil on canvas, 82.3 x 61 cm (32 x 24 in.)

Laib L8407 (428) / C28(21) [cut down version]

NPG Album 1917-21, p. 1

Sitters’ Book I, f. 101: Armatrude Waechter Jan: 25th 1915.

Private Collection

According to a descendant of the sitter, this portrait was cut down from the original three-quarter length on the instructions of Lady Waechter. She was described as being very strong-willed and did not like the way her hands had been painted.^[1] A preparatory oil study [112133] for this portrait differs slightly in composition but gives some indication of de László’s original composition. Her dog, just visible, was a Bruxells Griffon called Bengie and attended the sittings in the artist’s studio in London. These were recorded in the artist’s wife’s diaries as taking place on 4,5 8 and 17 March 1915.^[2] A second full-length portrait [10068] was completed after the present picture was rejected and is inscribed 16 May 1915. De László made a drawing of her husband Sir Max Waechter [1797] in 1916.  

Armatrude Bertie Sophia Effie Hobart was born 20 May 1890, in London, the only child of Colonel Bertie Hobart (1838-1907) of Blickling in Norfolk and his wife Rose Grimston (1860-1927). During childhood she lived at 1 Hobart Place, in Belgravia, London and at Grimston Garth, near Hull, which her mother had inherited on the death of her father in 1879.

In 1912 she married Sir Max Leonard Waechter (1837-1924) as his second wife and they lived at Terrace House on Richmond Hill. He was a businessman and philanthropist, whose parents had moved to England from Stettin, Germany. His fortune derived mainly from the shipping industry. There were no children of the marriage.

The sitter was known as Lady Waechter de Grimston or Lady de Waechter. After the death of her husband in 1924, and particularly during the Second World War, she ceased using Waechter and became known as Lady de Grimston. She was known as Aunt Dillo to her young cousins and godchildren.^[3] 

Lady Waechter and her husband travelled widely on their steam yacht and enjoyed exploring difficult and sometimes dangerous terrain when on land. She especially loved the Holy Land where her relation Sir Ronald Storrs was Governor in the early years of the British Mandate of Palestine (1917-25).

In the 1950s she bought a farm called Morning Glory, near Bulawayo, in what was then Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. This was in part to support a scheme by the British Government encouraging ex-Servicemen to go to Africa. Ultimately her cattle-breeding and other schemes failed and the property has since fallen into ruin.

Lady Waechter held a lifelong fascination for history, particularly that of her ancestors, who could be traced back to the Norman Conquest. She was also responsible for the publication of a Grimston family history. Architecture was another interest and she was a Founder Member of the Georgian Society of the East Riding, and served as President. She was Vice-President of the York Georgian Society. She was skilled in the restoration of monuments, and worked with great expertise with gold leaf in many cathedrals, including the memorial of Sir Henry and Lady Belassis of Newburgh in York Minster.  

She died aged ninety-one on 25 February 1982, at home in St. Oswalds Sleights, near Whitby.

PROVENANCE:

By descent in the family;

Sold Tennant’s 16 November 2019, lot 554

LITERATURE:

László, Lucy de, 1915 diary, private collection, pp. 57-60

KF 2019