John Lavery, Irish, 1856-1941
Title: The Artist's Studio: Lady Hazel Lavery with her Daughter Alice and Stepdaughter Eileen
Date: 1910-1913
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
344 x 274 cm
Credit Line: Purchased, 1959
Object Number: NGI.1644
DescriptionSet in the artist’s lofty workroom at Cromwell Place in London, this monumentally sized picture is at once a homage to Old Master painting, a grand acknowledgement of family, and a celebration of Lavery’s material, artistic and social status. Begun in 1910, it features Lavery’s wife Hazel, her daughter Alice from her first marriage, and the artist’s own daughter Eileen by his first wife. To the left, carrying a fruit-laden salver, is the family’s Moroccan maid Aïda, whose presence, like that of Lavery’s painting Idonea in Morocco on the back wall, alludes to the artist’s long-standing relationship with North Africa. Hazel, a model and society belle, appears in typically fashionable clothes of richly coloured silk and satin, and a feathered turban.
Lavery based both the painting’s overall composition and some prominent details on Velázquez’s Las Meninas (1656; Museo del Prado, Madrid). He quotes directly from Velázquez, for instance, in placing the family greyhound, Rodney Stone, in the same spot as that occupied by a dog in the seventeenth-century painting. Other references are less literal, such as the artist’s inclusion of himself, reflected in a mirror in the background, holding his palette and brush. Lavery invested huge energy in the production of this work, amending several elements and enlarging the painting considerably after it was exhibited in Rome in 1911.
March 2016
Lavery based both the painting’s overall composition and some prominent details on Velázquez’s Las Meninas (1656; Museo del Prado, Madrid). He quotes directly from Velázquez, for instance, in placing the family greyhound, Rodney Stone, in the same spot as that occupied by a dog in the seventeenth-century painting. Other references are less literal, such as the artist’s inclusion of himself, reflected in a mirror in the background, holding his palette and brush. Lavery invested huge energy in the production of this work, amending several elements and enlarging the painting considerably after it was exhibited in Rome in 1911.
March 2016
ProvenanceViscount Cowdray, c. 1919; purchased, Mr A. Welch, 1959
Exhibition HistoryInternational Fine Arts Exhibition, Rome, 1911
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1914
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1916
Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, Glasgow, 1918
Sir John Lavery R.A. 1856-1941, The Fine Art Society, Edinburgh, 11 August - 8 September 1984; The Fine Art Society, London, 17 September - 12 October 1984; Ulster Museum, Belfast, 8 November 1984 - 13 January 1985; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1 February - 15 March 1985
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1914
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1916
Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, Glasgow, 1918
Sir John Lavery R.A. 1856-1941, The Fine Art Society, Edinburgh, 11 August - 8 September 1984; The Fine Art Society, London, 17 September - 12 October 1984; Ulster Museum, Belfast, 8 November 1984 - 13 January 1985; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1 February - 15 March 1985
Label TextSet in the artist’s lofty workroom in London, this huge picture features Lavery’s wife Hazel, her daughter Alice from her first marriage, and the artist’s daughter Eileen by his first wife. To the left is the family’s Moroccan maid Aïda, whose presence alludes to the artist’s longstanding relationship with North Africa. Lavery based both the painting’s overall composition and some prominent details on Velázquez’s Las Meninas, placing the family greyhound, for example, in the same spot as that occupied by a dog in the seventeenth-century painting and including a reflection of himself, holding his palette and brush, in the background.