Portrait head of Lady Helen Maglona Vane-Tempest-Stewart (1911-1986)
Margaret Wrightson (Stockton on Tees 1877 - 1976)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1930
Materials
bronze
Measurements
521 x 210 x 185 mm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Mount Stewart, County Down
NT 1220135
Summary
Sculpture, bronze; Portrait head of Lady Helen Maglona Vane-Tempest-Stewart (1911-1986); Margaret Wrightson (1877-1976); 1930. A bronze head depicting Lady Helen Maglona Vane-Tempest-Stewart, the third daughter and fourth child of Charles, 7th Marquess of Londonderry and his wife Edith. One of a number of sculptures by Margaret Wrightson of members of the Londonderry family at Mount Stewart.
Full description
A portrait head in bronze by Margaret Wrightson depicting Lady Helen Maglona Vane-Tempest-Stewart (1911-1986), looking upwards to her right, mounted on an integral tall rectangular socle. Lady Helen Maglona Vane-Tempest-Stewart was the fourth child to be born to Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry and her husband Charles, 7th Marquess. Helen was the third of the four daughters the couple would have, thus an elder sister of Lady Mairi Vane-Tempest-Stewart, later Lady Mairi Bury. Lady Helen was generally considered the most beautiful of the four sisters (de Courcy 1992, p. 253), and was married three times, her first marriage to the Hon. Edward Jessel, later 2nd Baron Jessel (1904-1990) meeting with initial disapproval from her parents, especially Edith, because the Jessels’ Jewish faith meant that the couple could not be married in church. The Jessels had three children but were divorced in 1960. Helen subsequently went on to marry Dennis Walsh, who died in 1975, and Nigel Sundius Hill. Her unusual second name, Maglona, is the Roman name for the town of Machynlleth in Montgomeryshire, Powys, where the 5th Marquess of Londonderrry and his wife Mary Cornelia lived for much of their lives. This fine portrait, which captures well the fresh innocence of youth, shows Lady Helen at the age of around nineteen; perhaps it was commissioned by her parents to mark her coming our as a debutante, which normally happened at the age of 17 or 18. The Vane and Wrightson families were neighbouring landowners in Northumberland from at least the early eighteenth century. In the later nineteenth century the former close relations between the families were renewed, with the marine engineer and politician Sir Thomas Wrightson (1839-1921) developing a close friendship with the 6th Marquess and Marchioness of Londonderry. His daughter Margaret Wrightson, who enjoyed a long and successful career as a professional sculptor, also therefore became a family friend of the Londonderrys. Much of Wrightson's work consisted in portrait commissions, but she also made a number of larger works. Her first commission from the Londonderrys was from the 6th Marchioness, for a fountain for Wynyard Park, whilst she subsequently received several commissions from Edith, 7th Marchioness of Londonderrys (for more information on Margaret Wrightson, see the Mairi Fountain, NT 1221060). Jeremy Warren October 2022
Provenance
Commissioned by the sitter’s parents, the 7th Marquess & Marchioness of Londonderry; thence by descent, on loan to the National Trust from Lady Mairi Bury (1921-2009), from 1976; accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the National Trust, in 2013
Marks and inscriptions
Back of bust:: Margaret Wrightson Sc. 1930
Makers and roles
Margaret Wrightson (Stockton on Tees 1877 - 1976), sculptor
References
De Courcy, 1992: Anne de Courcy. Circe: the life of Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry. London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1992.