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

The sitter, thence by descent;
Christie’s, London, 12 May 2006, lot 103, where purchased by the father of the present owner and thence by descent

The canvas is lined. Some old frame abrasions along extreme edges. Some occasional and minor spots of surface dirt, otherwise the work appears in very good overall condition. Ultraviolet light reveals a vertical line of retouching approx. 30 cm long and another n-shaped line of retouching immediately to the right of it approx 10 cm long which appear to relate to repaired tears - both these are located in the background near centre of left edge. There is a square area of retouching approx 6cm high in the step to the right of the lady's left hand which may be a repaired patch. Also three small spots of retouching by the front right paw of the dog - one of which is approx. 3cm long and maybe a minor repaired tear. All of these have been well executed and are not visible to naked eye. Unframed
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In 1907 Frederick Adolphus Konig, a successful German-American banker living in London, purchased Tyringham Hall in Buckinghamshire. The house, designed by Sir John Soane in the 1790s required remodelling in the fashionable French rococo style and for this, the architect, Charles GF Rees was appointed. Grand rooms were fitted with boiseries such as one might find in a chateau on the Loire, and these were to receive large portraits of Konig and his wife, the Saxon baroness Gerda von Chappuis. She was lady-in-waiting to Princess Marie-Louise of Schleswig-Holstein, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her portrait would be let into the panelling above one of the fireplaces (fig. 1).

Lavery’s brief was therefore quite specific. It may even have been required that the baroness be shown descending from the newly constructed pergola with her greyhound, one of the most favoured aristocratic breeds of the period. While the circumstances and precise date of Lavery’s commission remain obscure, it has been proposed that it may have come at the suggestion of Edwin Lutyens who around 1920 was asked to redesign the gardens at Tyringham Hall. While this might explain the pergola setting for the portrait, it seems rather late for the completion of an interior decorative scheme.

Alternatively, around 1900, Lavery had staged a series of exhibitions in Berlin, and executed numerous portrait commissions for German aristocrats and industrialists. For a time, up until 1908, his favourite model, Mary Auras, was known to be German, and one critic even complimented him for managing to ‘anglicize the German frau’. By 1910, although this phase of his career was over, his reputation in Europe and North America remained high and his clientele was international. This would no doubt have commended him to the Konigs for the present portrait.  

Kenneth McConkey