This is 'Miss Auras, The Red Book' by the great Irish portrait painter Sir John Lavery (1856-1941). There's a lot of very interesting information about the painting and the sitter here -- apparently Lavery met Mary Auras in Austria when she was sixteen and painted her many times over the next few years, though he was aware of the potentially incendiary nature of Mary’s presence, and enlisted the company of his studio assistant or daughter when traveling with her in order to uphold propriety. A nice little story there, methinks.
According to the article, the portrait
is unusual in its representation of a full, and pleasingly chiseled, profile. Her gesture as she angles the slim volume is full of alacrity – there is none of the languor which so often characterizes images of women in repose.
Books Magazine
This is 'Miss Auras, The Red Book' by the great Irish portrait painter Sir John Lavery (1856-1941). There's a lot of very interesting information about the painting and the sitter here -- apparently Lavery met Mary Auras in Austria when she was sixteen and painted her many times over the next few years, though he was aware of the potentially incendiary nature of Mary’s presence, and enlisted the company of his studio assistant or daughter when traveling with her in order to uphold propriety. A nice little story there, methinks.
According to the article, the portrait
is unusual in its representation of a full, and pleasingly chiseled, profile. Her gesture as she angles the slim volume is full of alacrity – there is none of the languor which so often characterizes images of women in repose.
