7032

Oswald Sanderson 1917

Standing three-quarter length to the left, wearing a coat over a dark suit and tie with wing collar, holding a pair of gloves and a top hat in his right hand, his left hand raised to his waist-coat pocket from which hangs a gold watch chain

Oil on canvas, 149.9 x 101.6 cm (59 x 40 in.)

Inscribed top left: de László / 1917 June

Laib L8554 (678) / C24 (6):  Mr. Sanderson

NPG 1917-21 Album, p. 12

Sitters’ Book II, f. 9: Oswald Sanderson. March 15th 1917

Owned by The Brethren of Trinity House, Kingston upon Hull

The present portrait was commissioned by Mrs. Arthur Wilson [7032] – whose late husband was Chairman of the Wilson Shipping Line – when the company was sold to Sir John Ellerman.^[1] This gesture was to acknowledge Mr. Sanderson’s service as Managing Director of the company over the years. Although Mrs. Wilson knew de László quite well, having been painted by him in 1915, Lockett Agnew [2560] acted as an agent, liaising between her, the artist and Mr. Sanderson. The famous art dealer mentioned the commission to de László for the first time on 5 February 1917,^[2] but de László was probably too busy to carry out the commission at first, as Lockett Agnew wrote again on 21 February 1917, with greater insistence: “I enclose you a letter from Mr. Oswald Sanderson, one of the best fellows in the world, whose portrait I want you to paint, and I want you to keep yourself free for Friday week for lunch, and then come and lunch with me at the Ritz. Don’t stand on any dignity about this point, but come, because Oswald Sanderson is a ripper and a first-class subject for a portrait. You will be delighted with him and I want you to do it.”^[3] 

Agnew’s wish was granted and Mrs. Wilson further commissioned de László to paint a portrait of Mrs. Oswald Sanderson [7084]: “Mrs Arthur Wilson gave me the order for the [present] picture and she selected the size 50 x 40 inches, which I told her would be 600 gs [sic]: I do not like to make an alteration without consulting Mrs. Wilson so I have written to her. Also Mrs. Wilson writes me this morning saying she wants you to paint Sanderson’s wife: Can you do it: & if so would not the pair be much better 50 x 40 each. Let me know.”^[4] De László had certainly already envisaged a three-quarter-length painting, and did not change his mind as to the format of the present portrait, also painting its pair 60 x 40 inches. In the end, Lockett Agnew was very satisfied with both portraits, even though he did not like Sanderson’s top hat, which he said caught his eye”.^[5]

Oswald Sanderson was born on 3 January 1863, the son of Richard Sanderson of Liverpool. He was educated at King's School, Ely, and later joined the family firm of Sanderson & Son, steamship agents, which his father had founded in New York. In 1888, he married Miss Beatrice Beddall of New York, with whom he had a daughter and three sons. In 1900 he left New York and the family firm to become Manager of Wilson Shipping Line, Hull. He held a number of Directorships, including those of North British and Mercantile Insurance Company, Earle Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. Ltd., Hull, United Shipping Co. Ltd., London, the Suez Canal Company, Lloyds Bank Ltd., London and North Eastern Railway, and North British and Mercantile Insurance Company. He was President of the Chamber of Shipping of United Kingdom in 1906 and a Member of the Royal Commission on Shipping Rings in 1907. He was also an Honorary Elder Brother of Trinity House, Hull, a member of Lloyds Shipping Register, of the Shipping Federation, and of the Chamber of Shipping.

An Honorary Colonel of the East Yorkshire Regiment and of the 73rd Northumbrian Brigade, R.F.A., he was also Deputy Lieutenant of the East Riding of the County of York.

A keen yachtsman, he was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes, and a life member of the Larchmont Yacht Club. Oswald Sanderson died on 25 December 1926 in Leeds, aged sixty-three, after a surgical operation. His wife outlived him by some thirty years.

SOURCE: The New York Times, 27 December 1926

PROVENANCE:          

Mr. W.C. Burkinshaw, the sitter's son-in-law;

Bequeathed to Trinity House, Hull, 1927

LITERATURE:

•DLA117-0047, letter from Lockett Agnew to de László, 5 February 1917

•DLA117-0043, letter from Lockett Agnew to de László, 21 February 1917

•DLA117-0044, letter from Lockett Agnew to de László, 5 March 1917

•DLA117-0041, letter from Lockett Agnew to de László, 17 July 1917

CC & MD 2008