Dame Laura KNIGHT (1877-1970) Portrait of Fryn Tennyson Jess...

Hammer

£20,500

Dame Laura KNIGHT (1877-1970) Portrait of Fryn Tennyson Jesse  Oil on canvas, signed, 61 x 51cm (frame size 82 x 72cm) A captivating, early portrait by Dame Laura Knight. Although undated, the low pompadour hairstyle, blouse and black ribbon at the neck, would all indicate a date of circa 1910. The sitter has been the subject of much speculation and the previous owner of this work spent considerable time researching the identity of this fair-cheeked young lady with the soulful eyes, satisfying himself and Cornish art historians Austin Wormleighton, Melissa Hardie and Alison Bevan that it was very likely to be of the criminologist, journalist and author Fryn Tennyson Jesse (1888-1958). Tennyson Jesse, a great-niece of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, arrived in Cornwall in 1907 and attended the Forbe's School of Painting in Newlyn. She lodged at Myrtle Cottage with Dod Procter (nee Shaw) and the other members of the 'Myrtage Set' and took an active part in the bohemian ways of Newlyn and Lamorna. Laura Knight described Fryn's 'slender graceful looks' and the journalist and writer Dame Rebecca West said she was 'one of the loveliest girls of her time'. She fitted in well in Cornwall, was intelligent and witty and it was here that she discovered her passion for the written word, encouraged by her great friend Elizabeth Forbes for whom she wrote a play. She also edited Forbes’ journal ‘The Paper Chase’. Prior to the war, she suffered a grisly and debilitating accident when she caught her hand in the propeller of a plane and subsequently underwent amputations and multiple surgeries. She travelled to New York where she had false fingers fitted. However, the lasting damage seems to have been that she became addicted to morphine, which she took to ease the pain during the months after the accident. Despite this, she continued to travel widely and excelled in her writing career; she was one of the first female war correspondents and became a prominent and prolific journalist, criminologist, playwright and novelist, who accomplished a great deal and was widely praised and celebrated in her lifetime. Fryn was a remarkable woman and this portrait of her is a rare and exciting discovery. This oil is in excellent restored condition. Under UV light a little filling of craquelure can be seen