Ambrose McEvoy
Study of a Lady with her arm raised, possibly Lady Diana Cooper (née Manners) (1892-1986), c. 1916
Watercolour and pencil on paper
22 x 12 ½ in (55.8 x 31.7 cm)
Philip Mould & Co.
Further images
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com Although the title of this striking watercolour is not recorded, it may possibly be a study by Ambrose McEvoy for his...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
Although the title of this striking watercolour is not recorded, it may possibly be a study by Ambrose McEvoy for his iconic portrait of Lady Diana Cooper painted in 1916.
In the final oil painting (currently with Philip Mould & Co.) Lady Cooper wears a white dress with a pink drape – much like the figure in the present work – and is shown standing with her arm raised. The pose is highly unusual and was never repeated by McEvoy at any other point throughout his career. It may be the case, therefore, that McEvoy painted the present work in preparation for the oil and used the relatively inexpensive medium of watercolour on paper to experiment with compositional ideas before committing his thoughts to canvas.
Lady Diana Cooper was a well-known socialite who was once named the most beautiful young woman in England. Purportedly the daughter of John Brinsley Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland (1852-1925), Diana was instead the product of an affair between her mother, Violet (1856-1937), and Henry “Harry” Cust (1861-1917), the dazzlingly bright socialite, journalist and one-time politician.
As was usual of high-born girls of her age, she was given no education. Instead, Diana learnt reams of poetry by heart, which she could still recite even into late life. She “came out” into society in 1910. Famed for her beauty, she became a figure at the heart of what was to become known as the “golden generation” of young men who died in the Great War.
It was during the Great War that Diana – with many of her former suitors dead on the Western Front – promised to marry Duff Cooper (1890-1954). For the duration of the War, the opposition of her ambitious mother prevented the marriage, but she eventually acquiesced, and the marriage took place in June 1919. It was, in the words of her biographer, ‘a marriage which never staled’. In spite of Cooper’s serial infidelities, the couple remained devoted to each other for the duration of their married lives. As she wrote to her brother John before their marriage, ‘for many years I have wanted to marry Duff because I know that when I am with him I am perfectly happy, that his mind I adore, that his attitude towards me and love and understanding are only equalled by mine towards him’.
In the years that followed, Diana succeeded in establishing a career as an actress. For ten years, she toured in Max Reinhardt’s mime play The Miracle to great acclaim. In 1929, she gave birth to her only son, John Julius (1929-2018), to whom she was devoted, calling him, affectionately, her ‘darling monster’. In 1933, however, Diana left the stage to serve as the support for her husband’s career. A picnicking companion during the Second World War of Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) and General Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), Diana continued to operate in only the smartest of sets. In 1952, when her husband was made Viscount Norwich, she refused to adopt his title, explaining to the Times that she wished to remain Lady Cooper.
Devastated by her husband’s death in 1954 – of cirrhosis of the liver – she refused to attend his funeral, something that she never did for those she loved the most. The thirty-five years spent following his death were mainly devoted to her family and to the writing of her memoires. She disliked growing old but, when she died in 1986, it was at the age of 93.
Ambrose McEvoy showed artistic talent from a young age. He was encouraged by his father, Captain Charles Ambrose McEvoy, and his father’s friend James Abbott McNeill Whistler to pursue art and he enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art at the age of sixteen, studying under Frederick Brown. McEvoy made close friends at the Slade including Augustus John, with whom he shared a studio for a time, and embarked on a ‘stormy’ affair with his sister, Gwen. In 1900 Gwen John was deeply hurt at McEvoy’s announcement that he was engaged to Mary Augusta Spencer Edwards, a fellow Slade student. Ambrose McEvoy and Mary Spencer Edwards married in 1902 and in 1906 they moved to 107 Grosvenor Road where they would spend the rest of their lives.
McEvoy’s style of painting became looser and less controlled following his visit to Dieppe with Walter Sickert in 1909. His career, like so many artists, was interrupted by the First World War and in 1916 he was attached to the Royal Naval division and spent three months on the front line producing portraits of naval officers, many of which are now in the collection of the Imperial War Museum. At the height of McEvoy’s career he was painting twenty-five oil paintings a year, including sitters such as the Duchess of Marlborough, Claude Johnson chairman of Rolls Royce, and the actress Lillah McCarthy. In 1924 McEvoy became an associate of the Royal Academy and also a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Overwork took its toll and he died three years later in 1927.
Although the title of this striking watercolour is not recorded, it may possibly be a study by Ambrose McEvoy for his iconic portrait of Lady Diana Cooper painted in 1916.
In the final oil painting (currently with Philip Mould & Co.) Lady Cooper wears a white dress with a pink drape – much like the figure in the present work – and is shown standing with her arm raised. The pose is highly unusual and was never repeated by McEvoy at any other point throughout his career. It may be the case, therefore, that McEvoy painted the present work in preparation for the oil and used the relatively inexpensive medium of watercolour on paper to experiment with compositional ideas before committing his thoughts to canvas.
Lady Diana Cooper was a well-known socialite who was once named the most beautiful young woman in England. Purportedly the daughter of John Brinsley Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland (1852-1925), Diana was instead the product of an affair between her mother, Violet (1856-1937), and Henry “Harry” Cust (1861-1917), the dazzlingly bright socialite, journalist and one-time politician.
As was usual of high-born girls of her age, she was given no education. Instead, Diana learnt reams of poetry by heart, which she could still recite even into late life. She “came out” into society in 1910. Famed for her beauty, she became a figure at the heart of what was to become known as the “golden generation” of young men who died in the Great War.
It was during the Great War that Diana – with many of her former suitors dead on the Western Front – promised to marry Duff Cooper (1890-1954). For the duration of the War, the opposition of her ambitious mother prevented the marriage, but she eventually acquiesced, and the marriage took place in June 1919. It was, in the words of her biographer, ‘a marriage which never staled’. In spite of Cooper’s serial infidelities, the couple remained devoted to each other for the duration of their married lives. As she wrote to her brother John before their marriage, ‘for many years I have wanted to marry Duff because I know that when I am with him I am perfectly happy, that his mind I adore, that his attitude towards me and love and understanding are only equalled by mine towards him’.
In the years that followed, Diana succeeded in establishing a career as an actress. For ten years, she toured in Max Reinhardt’s mime play The Miracle to great acclaim. In 1929, she gave birth to her only son, John Julius (1929-2018), to whom she was devoted, calling him, affectionately, her ‘darling monster’. In 1933, however, Diana left the stage to serve as the support for her husband’s career. A picnicking companion during the Second World War of Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) and General Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), Diana continued to operate in only the smartest of sets. In 1952, when her husband was made Viscount Norwich, she refused to adopt his title, explaining to the Times that she wished to remain Lady Cooper.
Devastated by her husband’s death in 1954 – of cirrhosis of the liver – she refused to attend his funeral, something that she never did for those she loved the most. The thirty-five years spent following his death were mainly devoted to her family and to the writing of her memoires. She disliked growing old but, when she died in 1986, it was at the age of 93.
Ambrose McEvoy showed artistic talent from a young age. He was encouraged by his father, Captain Charles Ambrose McEvoy, and his father’s friend James Abbott McNeill Whistler to pursue art and he enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art at the age of sixteen, studying under Frederick Brown. McEvoy made close friends at the Slade including Augustus John, with whom he shared a studio for a time, and embarked on a ‘stormy’ affair with his sister, Gwen. In 1900 Gwen John was deeply hurt at McEvoy’s announcement that he was engaged to Mary Augusta Spencer Edwards, a fellow Slade student. Ambrose McEvoy and Mary Spencer Edwards married in 1902 and in 1906 they moved to 107 Grosvenor Road where they would spend the rest of their lives.
McEvoy’s style of painting became looser and less controlled following his visit to Dieppe with Walter Sickert in 1909. His career, like so many artists, was interrupted by the First World War and in 1916 he was attached to the Royal Naval division and spent three months on the front line producing portraits of naval officers, many of which are now in the collection of the Imperial War Museum. At the height of McEvoy’s career he was painting twenty-five oil paintings a year, including sitters such as the Duchess of Marlborough, Claude Johnson chairman of Rolls Royce, and the actress Lillah McCarthy. In 1924 McEvoy became an associate of the Royal Academy and also a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Overwork took its toll and he died three years later in 1927.