'Circe and the Sirens'
Edmond Brock (London 1882 - London 1952)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1925 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
3277 x 2743 mm
Place of origin
Great Britain
Order this imageCollection
Mount Stewart, County Down
NT 1220965
Caption
Edmond Brock's group portrait shows Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry and her three youngest daughters Margaret, Helen and Mairi with her pet goat 'Paddy from Cork'. In the background, the faces of her husband Charles, 7th Marquess (on the left) and the artist himself (on the right) appear in the herms. Edith is shown in the guise of Circe the Sorceress of Homer's Odyssey who charmed Odysseus and his men to stay on her island before turning them into pigs. As Circe, Edith presided over The Ark, a club she founded during the First World War. She holds the large gold cup that can be seen in the SIlver Display off the Central hall of the house.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, 'Circe and the Sirens' by Edmond Brock (London 1882– London 1952), signed and dated lower right: Edmond Brock / 1925. A group portrait of Edith Chaplin, Marchioness of Londonderry (1878-1959) and her three youngest daughters: Lady Margaret Frances Anne Vane-Tempest-Stewart (1910-1966), Lady Helen Maglona Vane-Tempest-Stewart (1911-1986), and Lady Mairi Elizabeth Vane-Tempest-Stewart, later Viscountess Bury (1921-2009). In the background, garden statuary in the form of herms have been given the faces of (on the left) Charles Stewart Henry, 7th Marquess of Londonderry (1878-1949) and (on the right) the artist Edmond Brock (1880-1952).
Provenance
Given to the National Trust by Lady Mairi Bury (1921-2009) in 1976
Marks and inscriptions
Lower right: Edmond Brock / 1925
Makers and roles
Edmond Brock (London 1882 - London 1952), artist