Portrait of Mrs Francine Clore née Halphen, in a black dress, wearing a diamond and emerald bracelet

Details

Sir Herbert James Gunn, R.A., R.W.S. (1893-1964)
Portrait of Mrs Francine Clore née Halphen, in a black dress, wearing a diamond and emerald bracelet
signed 'James Gunn' (lower right)
oil on canvas
36 x 28 in. (91.5 x 71.1 cm.)

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 12 June 1987, lot 102, as 'Pauline.'

Special notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Lot Essay

Erroneously identified as Gunn's second wife Pauline in a previous sale due to a Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition label attached to the frame, this picture has been confirmed to portray Mrs Francine Clore née Halphen. Francine, a relation of the Sassoons and the Rothschilds, was a war heroine who was awarded the Croix de Guerre for her part in the French Resistance. She married the millionaire entrepreneur turned philanthropist Sir Charles Clore who, from a modest start in London's East End, built up the Sears empire with assets that included Selfridges and Mappin & Webb. They had two children, Vivien and Alan, and their marriage was dissolved in 1957.

We are grateful to Paul Gunn and Chloe Gunn Blackburn for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.

More from Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art; Maritime Art; Sporting & Wildlife Art

View All