19th Century European Art
19th Century European Art
Property from a Private Collection Southern California
Sir Gerald Festus Kelly
Jane XIII
Lot Closed
May 26, 07:09 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from a Private Collection Southern California
Sir Gerald Festus Kelly
British
1879 - 1972
Jane XIII
titled on an old label attached to the reverse
oil on canvas
canvas: 24⅞ by 14¼ in.; 63.1 by 36.1 cm
framed: 30⅛ by 19½ in.; 76.5 by 49.5 cm
Thence by descent
Sale: Sotheby's, London, 13 December 2018, lot 75
Gerald Festus Kelly (1879-1972) was one of the leading London society portraitists of his day. This may be one of his earliest portraits of an artist’s model whom he married in 1920. Her name was Lilian Ryan but Kelly gave her the sobriquet ‘Jane’ and painted her more than fifty times, exhibiting a portrait titled Jane every year at the Royal Academy, of which he served as President from 1949 to 1954. When Queen Mary was introduced to her, she exclaimed "Jane, of the many Janes!" such was the fame and familiarity of the portraits.