Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, O.M., R.A.

Given in 1896 by the artist to Edward Onslow Ford, Blackheath and thence to his wife in 1901 and by further descent to her daughter, Mrs Bertram Fitzherbert Widdrington, by whom given to a private collector in whose family it remained until 2002;
Christie's, 26 November 2002, lot 111;
Private collection

London, Grafton Galleries, 1896, no. 36;
Preston, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Guild Art, 1920, no 126;
Royal Academy, Exhibition of works by the late Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema RA, OM, Winter Memorial Exhibition, 1912, no.190

F. Dolman, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Strand, XVIII, 1899;
H. Zimmern, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema RA, 1902, p.74;
R. Dircks, The later works of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema O.M., R.A., R.W.S., 1910, p.21, illustrated p.32;
V.G. Swanson, Alma-Tadema, the painter of the Victorian vision of the ancient world, 1977, illustrated p.59;
V.G. Swanson, The Biography and Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1990, pp.255-6, illustrated p.459

The panel appears to be sound. There is a light surface abrasion to the word 'friend' in the inscription at the right edge, otherwise the work appears in good overall condition. Ultraviolet light reveals some retouchings in the background of the upper left corner, to the leg of the piano and a couple of minor spots to her dress. Held in reproduction classical-style gilt frame.
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This is a delightfully sensitive portrait of the daughter of one of the artist's friends, who appears to be completely at ease in the painter's studio, leaning against the end of Tadema's famous and much-used piano. She is dressed in a fashionable gown with large sleeves and a smock-front of peacock-blue pleats. Clothilde Edith Ford (1877-1952) was the only daughter of the sculptor Edward Onslow Ford. Her brothers were Rudolph (born 1875), Wolfram (born 1877) and Max (born 1883) whose son was the surrealist artist Gordon Max Onslow Ford. Wolfram Ford was also an artist of modest success who painted his sister several times. Her first husband was Philip Riviere (perhaps the son of the painter Briton Riviére) but in 1912 she remarried, Brigadier-General Bertram Fitzherbert Widdington of Newton Hall in Felton near Morpeth, Northumberland.

Most of Tadema's portraits depict members of his own family, of the many musicians who attended his weekly musical soirées and the families of fellow painters and sculptors. He painted the daughter of the artist John MacWhirter, the wife of the marine painter Charles William Wyllie and portrayed the sculptor George Simmonds in return for a sculpted silver shield. Among his friends were several sculptors, including Hamo Thornycroft, the American Moses Ezekiel and the Parisian Jules Dalou whose family he painted in 1876. In 1883 Tadema exchanged a portrait of Giovanni Amendola for an example of the Italian sculptor's work. The present work was a similar gift of appreciation given to Clothilde's father who gave Tadema a copy of his bronze bust of the artist, the original of which was donated as his Diploma work to the Royal Academy. 

The wicker stool depicted in the portrait was the one on which Tadema used to sit at his easel when he was working on his smaller and exquisitely detailed pictures. The piano stood in the alcove of his beautiful home at 17 Grove End Road in St John's Wood. The interior of the lid was fitted with large ivory panels on which many of the famous musicians had inscribed their names, including Clara Schumann, Joseph Joachim, Anton Rubinstein, Camille Saint-Saëns and Pablo de Sarasate. The piano was put into storage in a warehouse during WWII and was destroyed by an air raid.