Sir William Russell Flint, R.A., P.R.W.S. 1880-1969

Bought from the artist and thence by descent to Mr Sword, Gingin, Western Australia;
Private collection, Australia;
Phillip's, 6 June 2000, lot 60;
Private collection

Peel Cottage was built close to the corner of Campden Hill and Peel Street in Kensington in 1872 by a gardener, Henry Evans. From 1877-1886 it was occupied by the painter Matthew Ridlet Corbet who began to spend increasingly long periods abroad and thus sold the house to Frank Dicksee who lived there until 1899. During Dicksee's time there the studio, which was approached from a steep staircase leading up from Peel Street, was rather cramped and makeshift and when Flint took up residence he set about remodelling the rooms to make them spacious and comfortable. The studio was described by Flint's model and friend Cecilia Green thus, 'At one end, separated by a short flight of steps, was a musician's gallery with two charming balconies set behind curtained arches; at the other a curtained recess. Nothing of the imagined Wildean bohemianism: no oriental splendour, scented cigarettes, languorous atmosphere, or hint of mystery. Simply a highly polished wooden floor with rugs, ordinary good solid furniture including a refectory table, pink rush seated chairs, a long couch strategically placed in the north light from the huge windows, a drop-front desk, and a small table with curved legs on which rested a big drawing board and a shabby paint box of black japanned tin as a child might use.' (Keith S Gardner and Nigel D Clark, Sir William Russell Flint 1880-1969, 1986, p.84)