GEORGE SPENCER WATSON ROI, RP, ARA, RA (1869-1934) Portrait ...

Hammer

£6,000

GEORGE SPENCER WATSON ROI, RP, ARA, RA (1869-1934)
Portrait of Mrs William Tisdall, (Elsie Gardiner) standing nearly full length, wearing a white dress with rose corsage, standing by a mirror and vase of red flowers, oil on canvas, 59 1/2 x 34 1/2 in

Exhibited: The Royal Academy, London 1909. no.40.

Possibly Exhibited at The Paris Salon.
Dresden. Kunstsalon Emil Richter, 1911.
Dorset County Museum, Dorchester & Southampton Art Gallery 18th Sept 1981-10 January 1982 no.3

Provenance: The Artist's family, by descent.

The artist refers to the painting of this portrait in his notebook at the time. 'Aug 08. Mrs Tisdall nee Gardiner sister of Hilda and Mrs Thompson...done at Charlesfort.....Had a delightful time there'.

Born in London the son of a surgeon, George Spencer Watson trained as an artist at St. John's Wood and The Royal Academy Schools from 1889. Exhibiting at the RA from 1891,
George Spencer Watson's best Edwardian portraits show a controlled aestheticism and display the influence of John Singer Sargent.

Although his earlier preference had been to paint subject pictures in the tradition of Lord Leighton and George Frederick Watts, Spencer Watson's later success as a society portraitist led to a steady stream of commissions. After 1900 Spencer Watson began exhibiting regularly at The Royal Academy, at The New Gallery and at The Society of Portrait painters of which he became an active member. Until the First World War he also exhibited at the Paris Salon regularly until the 1914 War, and he had a one man touring show in 1912. His price for a full length ranging between £60 and £100 (around £10000-15000 in current values)

The sitter, Elsie Gardiner, had married William Tisdall in 1899. The Tisdalls were a prominent Irish family who had owned the Charlesfort Estate, Kells, Co. Meath since the mid 18th Century.