Harold Gilman 1876-1919

Mrs Sylvia Gilman, the Artist's wife, and thence by family descent to the present owner

Painted circa 1915. Irene Beatrice Battiscombe (1877-1940), one of the artist's ten siblings, was the sister to whom Gilman was closest. He painted her on several occasions, including as a young girl at their family home, Snargate Rectory, on Romney Marsh in Kent. She later married the H.M.P.S. chaplain Harold Battiscombe. In discussion with the family of the artist, Marjorie Lilly (author of Sickert: The Painter and his Circle, 1971) later recalled the intensity with which Gilman approached his portraits of those of whom he was most fond, for example his landlady, Mrs Mounter (see fig.1, p.32), Mrs Bevan (see lot  21), his sister Irene and his children.