112260

VERSO

Preparatory work

Mrs Arthur Lee, née Ruth Moore 1912

Seated half-length to the right, wearing a dark evening dress with a wrap draped over her shoulders, a long gold chain round her neck and a brooch pinned to her dress

Oil on board, 100.6 x 72.4 cm (39 ⅝ x 28 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower left: Oil sketch for this portrait

Courtauld Institute Galleries, London

This preparatory study for the finished study portrait [6194] illustrates the artist’s alla prima technique, starting with the sitter’s face on a blank support. The artist was economical with his boards and often painted on the back of abandoned studies or portraits. Unusually, the artist has used the same board for the portrait study, which is recto [6194].

Ruth Lee bequeathed the present work to the Courtauld Institute of Art, which was Lord Lee’s brainchild. A considerable collector of paintings, in 1931 he persuaded the artificial silk millionaire, Samuel Courtauld, a friend and fellow patron of the arts, to endow the University of London with the institute that now bears his name. Lee was for some years Chairman of the Management Committee of the Courtauld.

PROVENANCE:  

Bequeathed to the Courtauld Institute Galleries by Lady Lee upon her death, 1966

EXHIBITIONS:

•Courtauld Gallery, London, Unfinished: Works from the Courtauld Gallery, 18 June-20 September 2015

CC 2008