Greenaway, Kate (1846-1901) Portrait of a Girl in Kerchief and Collar.
Circa 1880s.
Oval watercolor on paper mounted to board, signed "K. Greenaway" along lower left curve, tipped to mat and framed, image 13 x 9 1/4 in., on a 17 x 13 in. board.
Provenance: Argosy Book Store; Private collection, New York, purchased from above, May 1957; thence by decent to current owner.
This portrait is believed to have been created in the 1880s, when Greenaway was at the height of her artistic talent and acclaim. Her publisher, Edmund Evans, hired poet Frederick Locker-Lampson to assist Greenaway with her verse writing. The two became close and Locker-Lampson, wealthy and well-connected, eventually began to help her enter London society in order to make beneficial introductions and promote her work to an affluent market. Commissions to paint the portraits of wealthy European patrons' children soon followed, as well as invitations to display her paintings at the Royal Academy. This delicate portrait of a young girl may very likely have been one such portrait.
