Sir John Lavery, R.A., R.S.A., R.H.A.

Alice Trudeau and thence by descent to the present owner

The following condition report has been prepared by Hamish Dewar Ltd, Fine Art Conservation: UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The canvas is unlined and is securely attached to the artist's original keyed wooden stretcher. This is providing an even and stable structural support. The canvas is inscribed in the upper right quadrant as viewed from the reverse. Paint Surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer. There is a pattern of drying craquelure within the pale pigments of the wall in the upper left quadrant of the composition. This is entirely stable and is attributable to the natural drying processes of the artist's materials. There are several vertical drip marks, most notably within the foreground of the composition. These would appear to to be historic and appear to have occurred before the paint had fully dried. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows the drip marks and also shows further scattered medium accretions. No retouchings are visible under ultra-violet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Riding was one of the most important recreational pursuits of John Lavery’s annual winter sojourns in Tangier. During these years up to the Great War, motor transport remained, as he noted in a letter of 1914 to Mary Cameron, relatively rare in Morocco, and not only were horses the principal means of transport for longer overland journeys to Tetuan or Fez, but they were often used for shorter visits to friends in the Kasbah or at the villa Harris on the far side of the city. The recent publication of photographs from Lady de Grey’s scrapbook confirms how important horsemanship was to the expatriate community (Burlington Magazine, June 2015, pp. 398-401). Many of his visitors such as the elegant Lady Juliet Duff, Gladys Finney and Lavery’s daughter, Eileen, were painted in riding costume at Tangier.

Despite her mother’s reservations, learning to ride greatly appealed to the artist’s eight-year-old stepdaughter, Alice Trudeau. This often entailed a canter along the shore accompanied by the painter (fig. 1). Although Alice’s preferred mount was ‘Lily-Beau’, a veteran war-horse that she inherited from her mother, she also rode a slightly smaller chestnut, called ‘Sultan’, which was in regular service at Dar-el-Midfah, Lavery’s house on Mount Washington in the outskirts of the city. A comparable canvas, Alice on Lily-Beau, could almost be a companion-piece to the present work. Alice also appears on Lily-Beau in The Morning Ride (sold Sotheby’s 22 May 2014).

On the Tangier holidays, Alice was to become Lavery’s favourite model, even though the annual migration to the ‘white city’ was cut short in 1913, because the artist was obliged to return to London for sittings with the Royal Family – a task that led to the large group portrait now in the National Portrait Gallery. Alice meantime, had been depicted while playing on the beach with Arab children, on the terrace at the villa, taking donkey rides, or, as here, posing as a mounted sentry at the studio door. It was a setting that the painter used to good effect in My Studio Door, Tangier, 1920 (sold Sotheby’s Scotland, 26 August 2008). This, in 1920, was to be their last visit to Morocco and Alice’s interests, now she had entered her teens, lay in tennis and golf. The house was sold in 1923, by which time the delights of the Riviera had replaced those of the ‘white city’.

Professor Kenneth McConkey