Lot Essay
The present work is the plaster model for two known casts of Sir Osbert, the first was purchased by T.E. Lawrence from the artist's studio and lent to the Tate Gallery from 1923 until it was presented by the Executors of the Lawrence Estate in 1950 (no.5938), and the second was acquired by the sitter and is now in the collection of Lady Walton.
In a letter of 5 February 1923, offering the portrait to the Tate, Lawrence wrote: 'Appropriate, authentic and magnificent in my eyes. I think it's his finest piece of portraiture and in addition it's as loud as the massed bands of the Guards'.
(M. Chamot, D. Farr & M. Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, I, Tate Gallery Catalogues, London, 1964, p.151)
Dobson would have met Sitwell in either 1919 or 1920 when he returned to Cornwall and set up a studio in Manresa Road, Chelsea. The Sitwells lived nearby. Dobson began work on the portrait head while the Sitwell family were planning the musical entertainment 'Facade', the first production of which occurred on 7 February 1922 with a set curtain designed by Dobson
We are grateful to Lisa Thompson-Pharoah for her help in preparing this catalogue entry, and this piece will be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonne on the work of Frank Dobson, R.A.
In a letter of 5 February 1923, offering the portrait to the Tate, Lawrence wrote: 'Appropriate, authentic and magnificent in my eyes. I think it's his finest piece of portraiture and in addition it's as loud as the massed bands of the Guards'.
(M. Chamot, D. Farr & M. Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, I, Tate Gallery Catalogues, London, 1964, p.151)
Dobson would have met Sitwell in either 1919 or 1920 when he returned to Cornwall and set up a studio in Manresa Road, Chelsea. The Sitwells lived nearby. Dobson began work on the portrait head while the Sitwell family were planning the musical entertainment 'Facade', the first production of which occurred on 7 February 1922 with a set curtain designed by Dobson
We are grateful to Lisa Thompson-Pharoah for her help in preparing this catalogue entry, and this piece will be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonne on the work of Frank Dobson, R.A.