Courtauld Greenwood Courtauld -Thomson, later Baron Courtauld-Thomson CB, KBE (1865–1954)
Winifred Hope Thomson (1864 - Beaconsfield 1944)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1885 - 1942
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
660 x 419 mm (26 x 16 1/2 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Dorneywood House and Gardens, Buckinghamshire
NT 1507731
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Courtauld Greenwood Courtauld -Thomson, later Baron Courtauld -Thomson KBE, CB (1865–1954) by Winifred Hope Thomson (1864 - Beaconsfield 1944). Portrait as a young man, seated at a desk reading a letter.
Full description
Courtauld Thomson was son of inventor Robert Thomson and Clara Hertz. Courtauld became a successful businessman, selling a coaching company he had founded to the Dunlop Tyre Company in the 1890s before investing in property construction in Mayfair. He went on to hold a number of lucrative directorships and was knighted in 1912. Prior to the outbreak of World War Two Courtauld was on the board of over thirty companies. This painting of a young Courtauld was by his sister Winifred Hope Thomson. Winifred was an artist who studied at the National Art Training School in South Kensington and was the first woman to be awarded a gold medal in the national competition open to all students at government Art Schools. She went on to study in France under Jean Jacques Henner and Carolus Duran and became renowned for her portrait miniatures of wealthy society figures which were exhibited in Paris and London. In later life, Winifred wrote cookery columns for The Times newspaper and published a book, Someone to Dinner – Chef Cooking for Little Kitchens in 1935.
Provenance
Presented with Dorneywood by Sir Courtauld Thomson (1865 – 1954) together with his sisters Elspeth Thomson (1862 - 1946) (widow of Kenneth Grahame [1859-1932]) and Winifred Thomson (1864 - 1944) to the National Trust in 1942
Credit line
Dorneywood, The Courtauld Thomsom Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Winifred Hope Thomson (1864 - Beaconsfield 1944), artist