Portrait head of Elsie Bibby

Elsie Bibby was a member of the Bibby family of Liverpool industrialists and shipping magnates. John Bibby, the founder, died aged sixty-five in 1840, but three of his four sons continued the business, James, Joseph and John Bibby Junior. On the staff of John Bibby and Sons was the young Frederick R. Leyland, who within nine years became a partner and eventually bought out the family firm in the early 1870s. Leyland was a hugely important collector and patron of Victorian art. The sale of his collection was held at Christie's in May 1892, and at least three of his pictures, two Rossettis and a Madox Brown, entered the collection of John Bibby. Nine works by Rossetti are listed as being in the Bibby family, including versions of Venus Verticordia, Beata Beatrix, La Pia de' Tolomei, La Donna della Finestra and the oil version of Monna Rosa. John Bibby's sale was held in these Rooms on 3 June 1899.

For another work by Hughes see lot 105.