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Lot Essay
In her Catalogue Raisonné, Virginia Surtees considers whether the present drawing was a discarded study for the bridesmaid in the right foreground in The Beloved (Tate Gallery, London, fig. 2). There are certainly similarities, the bridesmaid is holding a flower stem and there is a similarity in treatment of the figure, although that could be because the sitter for both the bridesmaid and the present drawing is the same. Alternatively she suggests it could relate to Sybilla Palmifera (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, fig. 1), where the single figure sits enthroned holding a palm leaf.
The sitter of the present drawing is Ellen Smith, a laundry maid who sat to many of the artists of the day including, Rossetti, Boyce, Burne-Jones, Poynter, and Spencer Stanhope amongst others. Boyce first mentions her as sitting to Rossetti, in his diary for 13 April 1863 and she sat for many of his most accomplished works, including Washing Hands (1865), The Beloved (1865-6), The Christmas Carol (1867) and Jolie Coeur (1867). Sadly her modelling career appears to have been cut short when she was attacked by a 'brute of a soldier' and her face disfigured. However, Boyce mentions in his diary of 17 February 1873, that 'Ellen Smith, now Mrs Elson, called on me to tell me that she had been married about 3 weeks again to an old acquaintance and suitor, a cabman. She wishes to do some laundry work on her own account, as her husband's earnings are small'.
This drawing was formerly in the collection of the artist L. S. Lowry, who followed in the tradition of artist collectors, dating back centuries to artists such as Van Dyck, Lely, Reynolds and Lawrence. It is difficult to see the connection that Lowry, with his industrial scenes and matchstick figures, could have with the voluptuous and soulful figures produced by the earlier artist. Yet Lowry appears to have been almost obsessive in his collecting of Rossetti's work, amassing at least sixteen works by the artist. David Bathurst, writing in his article 'Talking to Lowry' for the Christie's Review of 1964-5, noted the 'he collects with an insatiable zeal. Few things can drag Lowry away from the north of England, but, as he says himself, "I'd be on the 11:58 tomorrow if you had another like the one I bought in April. I have nightmares sometimes that Christie's are going to hold an entire sale of Rossettis."
The sitter of the present drawing is Ellen Smith, a laundry maid who sat to many of the artists of the day including, Rossetti, Boyce, Burne-Jones, Poynter, and Spencer Stanhope amongst others. Boyce first mentions her as sitting to Rossetti, in his diary for 13 April 1863 and she sat for many of his most accomplished works, including Washing Hands (1865), The Beloved (1865-6), The Christmas Carol (1867) and Jolie Coeur (1867). Sadly her modelling career appears to have been cut short when she was attacked by a 'brute of a soldier' and her face disfigured. However, Boyce mentions in his diary of 17 February 1873, that 'Ellen Smith, now Mrs Elson, called on me to tell me that she had been married about 3 weeks again to an old acquaintance and suitor, a cabman. She wishes to do some laundry work on her own account, as her husband's earnings are small'.
This drawing was formerly in the collection of the artist L. S. Lowry, who followed in the tradition of artist collectors, dating back centuries to artists such as Van Dyck, Lely, Reynolds and Lawrence. It is difficult to see the connection that Lowry, with his industrial scenes and matchstick figures, could have with the voluptuous and soulful figures produced by the earlier artist. Yet Lowry appears to have been almost obsessive in his collecting of Rossetti's work, amassing at least sixteen works by the artist. David Bathurst, writing in his article 'Talking to Lowry' for the Christie's Review of 1964-5, noted the 'he collects with an insatiable zeal. Few things can drag Lowry away from the north of England, but, as he says himself, "I'd be on the 11:58 tomorrow if you had another like the one I bought in April. I have nightmares sometimes that Christie's are going to hold an entire sale of Rossettis."