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| Charles Shannon, portrait of a lady in a striped short, 1915 |
The oil on canvas was not a small painting or sketch, measuring 75 x 61 cm, in a red and gilt frame. Signed and dated, it was finished in 1915.
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| Charles Shannon, portrait of a lady in a striped short, 1915 |
There is a label on the back with the name of James Bourlet & Sons., Ltd., a firm of fine art packers and framers.
The auctioneer's description reads:
A portrait painting depicting a young woman with androgynous charm, seated with her chin resting on her hand, her other hand holding pansies, gazing directly at the viewer with a soft introspective expression, she wears a coral and white striped blouse with voluminous sleeves, partially covered by a dark shawl, complimented by her cabochon coral and gold ring, she wears a black feathered toque style hat, her reflection in a circular mirror behind her, signed and dated 1915 to lower right, oil on canvas, 75 x 61 cm
(Jewellery, Art & Antiques. Guildford, Surrey: Aubrey’s Auctioneers, 31 July 2025, lot 139).
Note, 6 August 2025:
The painting has now been identified as being the portrait of ‘Miss Helen Lawson (Lady with a Coral Ring)’. As such, it was listed by 'Tis' [Herbert Furst] in Charles Shannon, A.R.A. An Essay. London, Colour Ltd., [1920]. (Masters of Modern Art), p. 7. At the time, the painting was owned by P.J. Ford. It had been exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1916. Frank Rutter mentioned it in The Sunday Times, 30 April 1916 (‘The Academy. A Portrait Year'): 'Mr. Charles Shannon shows several small square portraits of women's heads, admirable in placing and arrangement, fine in quality and harmonious, if rather low and sombre in colour. Their fanciful titles, "The Lady with a Coral Ring" (119), "The Lady in a Black Hat" (483), and "The Lady with the Amethyst" (524), suitably express the painter’s romantic and decorative intentions.' (Thanks are due to John Aplin for sending me some reviews of the exhibition.)
