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This boldly modernist portrait by Duncan Grant depicts his close friend and physician Dr Marie Moralt, a little-known but central figure in the lives of Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell (1879-1961). For approximately the past generation (since it was bought and owned by the leading Charlstonian art historian, Richard Shone) the portrait was inexplicably folded over on its edges, disguising not only its signature, but major portions of the composition such as the expressively clasped hands, and ‘integral’ painted frame or slip.

Whilst their experience of the First World War was relatively free of trauma, the end of the war brought a period of change and instability for the couple. On the first Christmas of peace, Bell gave birth to their daughter Angelica (1918-2012). When the child took a dramatic downturn in health, the local doctor administered medicine which worsened Angelica’s condition, blaming Bell’s milk. After consulting several doctors, Moralt installed herself at Charleston, believing the doctor to be poisoning the child with carbolic. Discriminated against as a woman in the profession, Moralt had to fight to override the local doctor and eventually Angelica fully recovered.

In a touching display of appreciation, Moralt was invited back to Charleston in May 1919 where she sat to both Grant and Bell who painted her simultaneously during the same sitting. Bell’s portrait of Moralt is now in the collection at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and shows her face-on against a plain background. Grant was clearly sitting to the right side of Bell and in the background of the present work we catch glimpses of the interior at Charleston. Bell later described to her friend and fellow artist Roger Fry (1866-1934) how Moralt was ‘simply wonderful to paint,’ and their friendship endured for many years. Moralt frequently returned to Charlston, most notably in July 1919 not only to vaccinate Angelica but also embroider one of Grant’s designs. It seems that this brazen doctor became an unlikely creative assistant to Grant and her portrait identifies Moralt as a fascinating part of the group’s history.

Duncan Grant was one of the principal figures in the Bloomsbury Group, a set of writers, artists and intellectuals based in London. Often overshadowed by their unconventional and bohemian lifestyle, the group’s artistic contribution was central to the overhaul of Victorian rigidity and paved the way for modern British art.

Born in Scotland and brought up in India, Grant set up his own studio in Fitzroy Square in 1910, having followed the advice of French painter Simon Bussy (1870-1954) to take up painting. In 1913, artist and influential art critic, Roger Fry, founded the Omega Workshops and invited Vanessa Bell and Grant to be creative directors. The Omega Workshops were an experimental design collective, aiming to dissolve the barrier between the fine and decorative arts, bringing them together through boldly patterned rugs, linen, furniture and ceramics.

Despite Grant’s sexual inclination towards men, his most defining and long-lasting relationship was with Bell. When conscription was introduced in March 1916, Bell rented Charleston Farmhouse so that Grant and his lover, David Garnett (1892-1981), could work there as farm labourers. Charleston became a hub for the Bloomsbury Group, allowing a stream of fellow intellectuals and artists relative seclusion to produce radical art and ideas.