Walter Richard Sickert, A.R.A. (1860-1942)

The setting is the bedroom at 940 Calle dei Frati, Venice. The model was formerly thought to be Carolina dell'Acqua who posed for Sickert many times in this interior. However in the present work the model's hair is in a topknot and Carolina is usually depicted with a flatter hairstyle. La Guiseppina, the most famous of Sickert's Venetian models, dressed her hair in a topknot but her facial features were sharp and thin, whereas this girl is plumper, and her full belly suggests that she may have been pregnant. Related paintings and drawings are catalogued in W. Baron, Sickert, London, 1973, under no.168.

We are very grateful to Dr. Wendy Baron for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.