Costanza Mazini, later Mrs William Hulton (1863-1939)
Lisa Ramona Stillman (1865-1946)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
c. 1890
Materials
Chalk on paper
Measurements
460 mm (H); 345 mm (W); 715 mm (H); 565 mm (W)
Order this imageCollection
Wightwick Manor, West Midlands
NT 1287933
Summary
Black chalk drawing of head portrait of Costanza Mazini, Mrs William Hulton (1863-1939) , slightly to left and wearing low neck dress. Card mount; glazed and set in deep ribbed wood frame.
Full description
Lisa Stillman (Florence 1875- London 1946). Eliza Ramona Stillman, always known as Lisa, was the eldest daughter of William Stillman (1828-1901) who was an American artist, Consul to Rome and Athens and Times correspondent to Italy and Greece, and his first wife Laura Mack (1839-1869). In 1871 her father, following the suicide of her mother, married the well-connected Pre-Raphaelite artist Marie Spartali (1844-1927). Stillman followed her Stepmother into the artistic world enrolling at the Slade School of Art in 1885, with further study at the Académie Julian in Paris and in 1886 whilst staying with her parents in Rome, at the French Académie under Ernest Herbert (1817-1908). Through Herbert she was introduced to Giovanni Costa (1826-1903), leader of the Etruscans, an Anglo- Italian group of landscape painters. In 1888 she exhibited Sabina, a portrait of Richmond Richie’s daughter Hester at the New Gallery. She was encouraged by GF Watts (1817-1904) to produce chalk portraits similar to this one of Gioconda Hulton, as they were considered highly commercial, although there is no evidence, she sold any works. In the 1890’s and 1900’s Stillman became close friends with the then Miss Stephens, Virginia Wolfe (1882-1941) and Vanessa Bell (1879-1961), through family friendships and connections with their mother, Pre-Raphaelite muse, Julia Stephens. Stillman is believed to be at least the partial inspiration for the character Lily Briscoe[i] in Woolfe’s semi- autobiographical novel To the Lighthouse. London. Hogarth. 1927. In 1893 Stillman stayed with the Stephens family in St Ives at Talland house which is believed to be the basis for the fictional summer home in To the Lighthouse of the Ramsey family. Here she was engaged on portraits of Julia Stephens and her daughter Stella Duckworth, half- sister of Woolfe and Bell. Effectively marking the end of her artistic career in 1911, Stillman became the carer for her three young nephews following the death of her half-sister, the sculptor, Euphemia (Effie) Ritchie nee Stillman (1872-1911). Costanza Mazini (1863-1939) was half-English, half-Italian. Her mother Linda was the daughter of James White, textile merchant and Liberal MP for Brighton. She married Vincenzo Mazini, one of her father's business acquaintances, in 1861. After Mazini's sudden death in 1869 Linda moved to Florence, where Costanza was brought up. In 1876 Linda Mazini married the historian Pasquale Villari. She was a friend of Lisa Stillman and her stepmother Marie. From 1878 to 1883 the Stillman’s lived in Florence and from 1888 to 1896 in Rome, and both Lisa and Marie Spartali Stillman used Costanza as a model for some of their work. This portrait of her by Lisa Stillman, makes an interesting comparison with Marie Spartali Stllman’s earlier portrait drawing of Costanza Mazini, Mrs William Hulton (NT 1287913). In 1886 Costanza married William Hulton, a rather unsuccessful painter of landscapes, buildings and interiors who had trained in Paris. The Hultons lived in Venice for the rest of their lives. Their circle of friends and acquaintances included Browning and Henry James, and the painters John Singer Sargent and Richard Walter Sickert. [i] Lisa Lily Stillman Briscoe. Jan Marsh. 2020
Provenance
Mrs. William Hulton; by descent to her daughter Teresa, Lady Berwick of Attingham Park; presented by Lady Berwick to Lady Mander for Wightwick in 1968.
Marks and inscriptions
LS (monogram, signed bottom right)
Makers and roles
Lisa Ramona Stillman (1865-1946), artist Lisa Stillman (fl.1875 - London 1946), artist