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Lot Essay
'Lavery had been interested in equestrian portraits for over thirty years by the time he painted Diana on Hampstead Heath. He learned to ride in Glasgow in 1890 and the following year produced an Equestrian Portrait, later reworked as Idonia in Morocco (Glasgow Art Galleries and Museums). This was followed by RB Cunninghame Graham on 'Pampa' (1898, Museo Nationale, Buenos Aires). It was however on his regular trips to Morocco in the early years of the century that Lavery's true love of horses developed. Photographs exist of the painter and his daughter, Eileen, Diana's mother, riding on the beach at Tangier and, being a keen member of the Tangier Hunt, Lavery painted portraits of its members in riding costume. However, his most important work of this sequence is undoubtedly The Amazon (1911, Ulster Museum, Belfast), a full-size equestrian portrait of Eileen. In this the sitter is shown in profile, parallel to the plane of the picture and as in Diana on Hampstead Heath, is placed against the sky. Paintings of this kind recommended Lavery to the racing fraternity prior to the Great War and during the twenties he was a regular spectator at the Derby and Ascot, where a number of important group portraits of jockeys in racing colours were produced (see lot 60).
Having portrayed her mother as The Amazon, it is not surprising that Lavery should have sought the opportunity to portray his first granddaughter in a similar manner. Painted on several occasions as a child, Diana Dickinson (1913-1960), gained something of a reputation as a tearaway in her youth. If we accept the dating of the present study, Diana would have been in her teens when the picture was painted. Although it acted as a preparatory study for Diana on Hampstead Heath (private collection, Royal Academy, 1931, no. 843, The Life of a Painter, 1940, illustrated), Lavery made important changes to the composition when he moved to the exhibited work. Figures were added to the tracery of paths in the background and a man, woman and child were placed on a bench overlooking the vista on the extreme right of the picture. Diana who looks back in the sketch, is seen in profile in the finished work, and her scarlet jacket has been replaced by a khaki overall. The addition of the dog, probably a Scots terrier, padding along at the heels of the pony, is derived from The Kingdom of the Kerry (1924, private collection) in which an old peasant astride a donkey and accompanied by a dog, makes his way through the Kerry hills. Diana shared the artist's fascination with Hollywood in the late thirties, and after joining Goldie Buttner at his 'Dude' Ranch, she took small parts in movies. Lavery produced a large formal portrait of her in 1934 (private collection) which was shown at the Royal Academy (no. 179).'
(Kenneth McConkey, private correspondence, March 2000).
Having portrayed her mother as The Amazon, it is not surprising that Lavery should have sought the opportunity to portray his first granddaughter in a similar manner. Painted on several occasions as a child, Diana Dickinson (1913-1960), gained something of a reputation as a tearaway in her youth. If we accept the dating of the present study, Diana would have been in her teens when the picture was painted. Although it acted as a preparatory study for Diana on Hampstead Heath (private collection, Royal Academy, 1931, no. 843, The Life of a Painter, 1940, illustrated), Lavery made important changes to the composition when he moved to the exhibited work. Figures were added to the tracery of paths in the background and a man, woman and child were placed on a bench overlooking the vista on the extreme right of the picture. Diana who looks back in the sketch, is seen in profile in the finished work, and her scarlet jacket has been replaced by a khaki overall. The addition of the dog, probably a Scots terrier, padding along at the heels of the pony, is derived from The Kingdom of the Kerry (1924, private collection) in which an old peasant astride a donkey and accompanied by a dog, makes his way through the Kerry hills. Diana shared the artist's fascination with Hollywood in the late thirties, and after joining Goldie Buttner at his 'Dude' Ranch, she took small parts in movies. Lavery produced a large formal portrait of her in 1934 (private collection) which was shown at the Royal Academy (no. 179).'
(Kenneth McConkey, private correspondence, March 2000).