Lot 489: Sold for £62,000 hammer
An Antiques & Collectables Auction to include Toys, Wines & Spirits, Thursday 12th December 2024

Dame Laura Knight RA RWS RE RWA PSWA DBE (British, 1877 - 1970), 'Dressing' depicting a young woman sat on the edge of a bed partially dressed, wearing one blue slipper, the other slipper is underneath the bed, a blue garment is draped over the bed, a single chair next to the bed has two garments draped over it, 1929, oil on canvas, signed lower right, numerous exhibition and gallery labels and a hand written label verso, 50cm by 45cm, framed.

Exhibited at The Royal Academy Exhibition 1929, number 472.

NB: The model in this painting is Dame Eileen Mayo DBE (British, 1906 - 1994), model, artist and designer who worked in England, Australia and New Zealand in almost every available medium, including drawings, woodcuts, lithographs, tapestry and silk screening, she also designed coins, stamps, tapestry and posters, and wrote and illustrated eight books on natural science.

Eileen Mayo began her career as a model by pure chance, the effects of which had helped save her from poverty following the unexpected death of her middle-aged father in the early days of the Depression, Eileen and her mother travelled to London to find work, Eileen read in a newspaper an announcement that the well-known artist Laura Knight had been made an Associate of the Royal Academy, prompting Eileen to travel to her studio in St John's Wood, Laura was immediately taken by her ‘unusual looks and magnificent hair like polished brass’ and asked her to model for her, Laura described her as ‘the loveliest of girls, with bright yellow hair as fine as gold and big dark grey eyes,' her striking appearance compelled her to put Eileen in all her ‘chief pictures’ during the period of their close working relationship between 1927 to 1930.

Provenance: Royal Academy Exhibition 1929, number 472.

Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport, 1954.

J. Ledger & Son, 13 Old Bond Street, London, July 1955.

Penlee House Gallery & Museum, 'Laura Knight: A Celebration', 17 May to 16 Sept 2021.