Portrait of Lucien Simon (1861-1945), three-quarter-length

The present portrait sketch was executed by Dame Laura Knight as a gift to Homer Saint-Gaudens, as a momento of her first trip to America in 1922. Homer Saint-Gaudens, the Assistant Director of Fine Arts at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, had invited Knight, alongside the French artist Lucien Simon to be the European representatives on the Jury of Awards at the International Exhibition of Paintings. The drawing is dedicated to Saint-Gaudens.

The drawing is to be included in the catalogue raisonné of Dame Laura Knight currently being compiled by R John Croft FCA, the great-nephew of the artist, and we are grateful for his assistance in identifying the sitter of the portrait.