Walter Richard Sickert, A.R.A

Adams Gallery
Royan Middleton, 1942
Private Collection, Scotland

Probably Birmingham Art Gallery, 1949, no.27 as The Feather Boa

Wendy Baron, Sickert: Paintings and Drawings, Yale University Press, London and New Haven, 2006, no.464, p.437;
Lilian Browse, Sickert, London, 1960, no.73, p.78, illustrated.

Unlined. There appears to be 2 slight scratches to the paint surface, upper right but otherwise the picture is in good condition. The grain of the canvas is visible in areas but this is due to the artist's choice of canvas. Under ultra-violet light the picture is completely free from retouching. A thick layer of discoloured varnish is visible. The paint surface would benefit from a clean. Held in a composition frame which has sustained some losses.
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Although Sickert's title purports to reveal the sitter's identity, there were a number of women with the name of Marie who were known by the painter during this time. Marie Hayes was a model who posed for many of Sickert's figure paintings between 1912-14 and may have been working for him as late as 1917. Marie Beerbohm also modelled for Sickert and Marie Pépin was housekeeper for the Sickerts during the First World War.     

We are grateful to Dr. Wendy Baron for her assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.