Portrait of May Gillilan, bust-length, turned to the right

One of the finest draughtsmen of the Pre-Raphaelite circle, Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys produced a relatively small number of paintings, drawings and wood engravings. It is suggested that he may have been short-sighted, as he needed to stand very close to his subjects, with the result that many of his portraits evoke an intense focus on the sitter.

Drawn in 1882, this fine portrait drawing was one of several works commissioned from the artist by the sitter’s father William Gillilan (1845-1925). A retired officer, Gillilan owned a number of late pictures by Sandys, including The Tangled Skein of c. 1870 (Ferens Art Gallery, KINCM:2006.7042) and Poppies of 1898 (The National Trust, Wightwick Manor, NT1287902), as well as a final version of Proud Maisie, dated 1902 and for which there are several preparatory studies.

This drawing was originally created as a double portrait, incorporating a likeness of May Gillilan’s younger sister Winnie at the right of the composition, but was trimmed and reduced to a single portrait. The drawing originally hung in the dining room of the Gillilan home at 6 Palace Gate in Kensington, where it is recorded in a photograph taken in May 1891.