Starkie, "The Grebe Hat", oil on canvas, 1907

Property from the Estate of Arthur Rackham

STARKIE, EDYTH

The Grebe Hat

665 by 475mm., oil on canvas, signed lower left "Edyth Rackham", framed, canvas is lined, patterns of craquelure on surface, some surface dirt, loss to frame

ONE OF THE ARTIST'S MAJOR WORKS AND A PAINTING IMMORTALISED BY ARTHUR RACKHAM.

As noted by James Hamilton, Edyth Rackham [née Starkie] "had a notable life of her own, as an artist of some stature and reputation" (see Irish Arts Review, 1991/92, pp. 155-64). For Hamilton, "Edyth's later portraits have a pensive quality and a characteristic and highly personal intensity of mood. Now, however, they are painted in subdued colours, point to Edyth's strong identification with Sickert and Whistler... ...the old master quality... could... be applied to The Grebe Hat... with its impenetrable dark background and arrangement of head and hands reminiscent of Leonard's Virgin of the Rocks and Saint John the Baptist".

The present piece was exhibited in both British and Foreign exhibitions between 1907 and 1910 (the frame includes a label from the Esposizione internazionale d'arte di Venezia 1909).

"The Grebe Hat" was immortalised by Arthur Rackham in 1918 within his illustrations for English Fairy Tales. Rackham's colour drawing of 'The Three Bears' shows the present piece hanging on the wall of the bears' dining room (fig. 1). In this context it was Arthur Rackham's tribute to his wife.

PROVENANCE:

Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1909, item 814; Esposizione internazionale d'arte di Venezia, 1909, item 673 (label on frame); Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, 1910, item 1047

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