Margaret McEwan, The Hon. Mrs Ronald Henry Fulke Greville, DBE (1863-1942)
Hermann Schmiechen (1855 - 1925)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1889 (signed and dated) (?) - 1891
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1575 x 1016 mm (62 x 40 in)
Order this imageCollection
Polesden Lacey, Surrey
NT 1246470
Caption
Schmiechen, a German artist, was settled in London as a fashionable portrait painter when he created this vision of the sitter, Margaret McEwan, as a sweetly modest and still unmarried woman. Margaret would go on to marry Ronald Greville (1864–1908) on 25 April 1891. She was presented at Court in May 1892, a year after her marriage, by Ronald’s aunt, the Duchess of Montrose. Ronald died just before he and Margaret were due to move into Polesden Lacey. Mrs Greville never re-married and was known by friends as ‘Mrs Ronnie’.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Margaret Anderson, the Hon. Mrs Ronald Greville, DBE (1863-1942) by Hermann Schmiechen (b.1855), signed and dated, 'H. Schmiechen 89 (?) [1889]'. A three-quarter length portrait of a woman, turned slightly to the right, gazing at the spectator and smiling, dark brown hair dressed on top with a blue ribbon, wearing a long white dress with short sleeves and a blue ribbon belt with a rosette at the front and holding a rose to her bosom with her right hand and holding an ostrich feather fan by her side in her left hand. Indistinct background, possibly foliage and sky.
Provenance
Date of acquisition not recorded, but originally at 16 Charles Street, Mayfair, Mrs Greville's London home, and bequeathed by Margaret McEwan, The Hon. Mrs Ronald Greville (1863-1942) with Polesden Lacey, to the National Trust, in memory of her father, William McEwan (1827-1913) in 1942. This item found on the probate inventory record for Charles Street chattels at Polesden Lacey, found in the Morning Room, page 66.
Credit line
Polesden Lacey, The McEwan Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
H. Smiechen 89 or 99 (signed and dated)
Makers and roles
Hermann Schmiechen (1855 - 1925), artist
