Portrait of a Lady in Grey and Black among exhibition of rare works by British and Scottish artists at Fine Art Society
A rare portrait by Sir John Lavery that has not been seen in public in more than 100 years will go in display at the Fine Art Society this summer.
Portrait of a Lady in Grey and Black has not been exhibited since it was bought by the present owner’s grandfather Nicol Paton Brown, a patron of the artist, in 1914.
The half-length portrait of a young woman from 1901 is a study in Whistlerian greys and blacks. The young woman – who traverses the picture plane and looks around at the spectator – was identified as Miss May Robbins by the writer Walter Shaw Sparrow. Her attire “expresses a subtle bravura, and her bold rep lips punctuate the refinement”, according to the gallery.
Born in Belfast and brought up in a farm in Northern Ireland, Lavery was an apprentice to a painter-photographer in Glasgow and attended the Glasgow School of Art. He was exhibiting as an independent artist by 1879, and became a society portrait painter and official court painter.
“More and more, what you see come on to the market has been doing the rounds or you remember it being sold 10 years ago,” said Emily Walsh, the managing director of the Fine Art Society.
