4183

Sir John Richard Geers Cotterell, 4th Baronet 1934

Seated half-length, full face to the viewer, wearing the ceremonial uniform of the Life Guards with decorations, a black great coat over his shoulders, holding a sword in his left hand and a glove in his right resting on his knee

Oil on canvas, 99 x 76 cm (39 x 30 in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / 1934

Laib L185465(452) / C6(9)  

NPG Album 1934, p. 3

Sitters’ Book II, f. 77: J.R.G. Cotterell May 3. 1934

Hereford Shirehall, Hereford and Worcester County Council

The Cotterell family were important patrons of the artist and he painted some nine portraits of them between 1913 and 1934. The sitter’s wife Evelyn was painted in three-quarter length [4185] and as a study portrait [112033] in 1913. His daughter Sylvia [9975] was painted in 1924. In 1931 he painted the sitter’s son Richard [4187] and daughter-in-law [4189]. A pencil study for the present portrait was recorded in the artist’s studio inventory but remains untraced [112760]. 

Sir John Cotterell, as Lord Lieutenant of Hereford, contacted the artist to commission his portrait on behalf of the county in August 1933. De László responded: “It certainly would give me pleasure to paint your picture in your picturesque uniform as a Lord Lieutenant, and I would do this for the honorarium mentioned in your last letter in the same size as I painted the portraits of your son and Lady Lettice Cotterell. The frame would not be included for the sum mentioned. If this is convenient for you, I could paint the picture at the beginning of September, as I am going down to the country now for my holiday. You may remember, I painted the two portrait [sic] already mentioned in a larger size than you expected, and with the hands showing, the size in fact, for which I usually charge seven hundred guineas.”^[1] The honorarium agreed for the present portrait was £300.^[2] A letter from de László’s secretary suggests the frame cost between £28 and £30.^[3]  

Sittings were scheduled to take place in November 1933, but were delayed by Cotterell needing an operation for appendicitis.^[4] He had recovered by spring and de László wrote to Cotterell: “I will make the necessary arrangements for the canvas and the frame, so that I can begin the picture in its frame, as you know I prefer to do so. Regarding the cloak, it does not really matter what kind it is, as it will hardly be seen. It will just be on your shoulder, and wide open, as in the portrait of your son, and I only use it to make the uniform less obvious and to give a more picturesque outline than the hard one of the uniform.”^[5]

On 1 May 1934 the artist recorded in his diary that he had made a “perfect beginning” to the portrait.^[6] Eight further sittings are recorded and the final one took place 19 May.^[7] An official unveiling took place 4 July 1934 at the Hereford Shirehall, to which the artist was invited but could not attend.^[8]

John Richard Geers Cotterell was born 13 July 1866, the eldest son of Sir Geers Henry Cotterell and his wife, the Honourable Katherine Margaret Airey. On 4 January 1896 he married Lady Evelyn Gordon-Lennox, the eldest daughter of the 7th Duke of Richmond. There were four children of the marriage: Sylvia (born 1897), Cicely (born 1899), Mildred (born 1903) and Richard (born 1908), who succeeded his father as Baronet in 1900. He was a Captain in the 1st Life Guards and President of the Hereford Territorial Army Association from 1904-1933. In 1897 he served as High Sheriff for Hereford and subsequently as Lord Lieutenant, retiring in 1932.

Cotterell served as an Alderman of Herefordshire County Council. In 1930 he was appointed a member of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments for England. He was also a renowned breeder of Hereford cattle. Cotterell died 13 November 1937 at his London home, 10 Hertford St.^[9] 

LITERATURE:

•DLA065-0129, letter from de László to Sir John Cotterell, 1 August 1933

•DLA065-0127, letter from Mr Maples, the Clerk of the Lieutenancy (Hereford) to de László, 1 November 1933

•DLA065-0128, letter from de László to Mr  Maples, 2 November 1933

•DLA065-0123, letter from Sir John Cotterell to de László, 22 November 1933

•DLA065-0116, letter from de László to Sir John Cotterell, 26 April 1934

•DLA065-0114, letter from de László’s secretary Eileen Abernethy to Sir John Cotterell, 26 April 1934

•DLA065-0111, letter from the Clerk of the Lieutenancy (Hereford) to de László, 31 May 1934

•DLA065-0108, letter from de László to Sir John Cotterell, 14 June 1934

•DLA065-0104, letter from de László to the Clerk of the Lieutenancy (Hereford), 2 July 1934

•DLA065-0107, letter from de László to the Clerk of the Lieutenancy (Hereford), 16 June 1934

•DLA065-0106, letter from the Clerk of the Lieutenancy (Hereford) to de László, 16 June 1934

•László, Philip de, 1933-34 diary, private collection, 8 November entry, p. 9; 22 November entry, p. 22

•László, Philip de, 1934 diary, private collection

MD & KF 2020