Head study

The picture once belonged to Anna Marie Diana Wilhelmina Stirling, née Pickering (1865 -1965), who was also known by the alias Percival Pickering, a British writer and art collector. She was the youngest sister of Evelyn de Morgan (née Pickering) and the painter John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829-1908) was her uncle. She was the founder of the De Morgan Centre for the study of 19th Century Art and Society. This drawing was traditionally thought to be by her sister Evelyn de Morgan, like many works from Old Battersea House which were under-catalogued in group lots, however stylistically it is very similar in style to drawings in an album which are by William de Morgan and in the collection of the De Morgan Foundation.

We are grateful to Sarah Hardy for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.