Sir William Russell Flint, R.A., P.R.W.S.

Cecilia

VAT reduced rateArtist's Resale Right

Lot Closed

December 15, 05:06 PM GMT

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Elegance and Charm: Property from an Important Family

Sir William Russell Flint, R.A., P.R.W.S.

British

1880-1969

Cecilia

signed and dated W. RUSSELL FLINT /JAN 1965 lower right; signed, inscribed and dated Cecilia / WRussell Flint / Jan 1965 on the reverse and signed, inscribed and dated Patricia's own Picture / with kindest regards + good wishes / from WRussell Flint / Jan. 5. 1965 / (A souvenir of Patricia's first visit to Peel Cottage) / (what a pleasure it is to see this little / picture again on my first visit to S. Africa!) / Willie / 8.4.67 on a detached backboard

watercolour on paper

Unframed: 28.5 by 20.2cm., 11¼ by 8in.

Framed: 46.5 by 39.4cm., 18¼ by 15½in.

Patricia Reed, Johannesburg
Sale: Sotheby's, London, 1 December 1999, lot 8
Richard Green, London
Purchased from the above by the present owner

''You, obviously, are Russell Flint's model,' said a bystander to my faithful Cecilia, 'but how comes it that he was painting you long before you could have been born?' 'I suppose I'm his type. I know I'm the type he has always painted.' I had in fact adapted faces to make them like hers years and years before I met her. An artist's preference for certain types is interesting, almost a theme worthy of a short treatise. I will not, however, attempt to diagnose my own case.'' (exhibition catalogue for the Royal Academy, Sir William Russell Flint RA, 1962, p. 90)