Margherita van Raalte, Baroness Howard de Walden (1890 - 1974)
Augustus Edwin John, RA (Tenby 1878 – Fordingbridge, Hampshire 1961)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1912 - 1923
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1223 x 914 mm
Place of origin
Wales
Collection
Chirk Castle, Wrexham
NT 1171528
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Margherita van Raalte, Baroness Howard de Walden (1890 - 1974) by Augustus John , RA (Tenby 1879 – Fordingbridge, Hampshire 1961), 1912/1923. Lord and Lady Howard de Walden lived at Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, from 1912. He was a passionate antiquarian, deeply interested in Wales and its language and a collector of modern art. Augustus John was first invited to Chirk in 1912 to paint Margherita’s portrait. Although she attended many sittings, the end result was in her words ‘a horrible picture which, after a while, he simply painted over’. John seems to have exhibited this canvas in 1917, and then to have heavily reworked it, probably in 1922.
Provenance
Purchased by National Museum Wales - Amgueddfa cymru in 1972. Ar fenthyg gan / Lent by Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales to Chirk Castle.
Makers and roles
Augustus Edwin John, RA (Tenby 1878 – Fordingbridge, Hampshire 1961), artist