Portrait of a woman, known as ‘Mammy Liza’
Winifred Hope Thomson (1864 - Beaconsfield 1944)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1890 - 1940
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
368 x 279 mm (14 1/2 x 11 in)
Order this imageCollection
Dorneywood House and Gardens, Buckinghamshire
NT 1507745
Caption
Writing to a friend while living in Paris, Winifred Hope Thomson remarked, ‘my brush is still an enemy to be struggled against instead of a willing and active servant’. Thomson was writing in the 1880s during the formative years of her artistic career, while studying in France under Jean-Jacques Henner and Carolus Duran. Despite her misgivings, she had already enjoyed significant success at home in England. She 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. The South London Press reported that, ‘as there are some 280 schools it may easily be calculated that Miss Thomson defeated a tremendously large number of competitors … many thousands of drawings were sent in in competition’. Winifred was born in Edinburgh in 1864, the third of four children born to Robert and Clara Thomson. Throughout much of her adult life she lived with her brother Courtauld, either in London or at Dorneywood in Buckinghamshire. Although current research is yet to identify the sitter in Thomson’s most remarkable portrait of a woman known as ‘Mammy Liza’, she became renowned for her portrait miniatures of wealthy society figures, which were exhibited in Paris and London. In later years Thomson went on to write cookery columns for The Times and published a book, Someone to Dinner – Chef Cooking for Little Kitchens, in 1935. Throughout her life Thomson turned her hand to a number of different disciplines, from illustration and portraiture to needlework and photography, and on her death was described by her brother as ‘a very gentle soul of outstanding intellect and a wide range of artistic gifts’.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Portrait of a woman, known as ‘Mammy Liza’ by Winifred Hope Thomson (1864 - Beaconsfield 1944). Bust-length portrait of a woman, head facing right with short hair or hair pulled back behind her head, wearing a v-neck terracotta top with white undergarment. A label for C. Roberson & Co on the back of the picture is inscribed, 'Winifred Hope Thomson 59 Pont St S.W. "Mammy Liza"
Full description
This painting depicts a woman known as 'Mammy Liza and is by the artist Winifred Hope Thomson (1864-1944)-. Research is ongoing into the sitter and her identity. Thomson 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. In the late 1880s Thomson studied in Paris at the 'atelier des dames' under the direction of Carolus Duran and Jean Jacques Henner. Her name and address are recorded in Henners diary from 1888, 'Mlle Miss Winifred Thomson rue des Champs 72 mardi a 5 heures'. Thomson exhibited work at the Women's International Exhibition at Earl's Court in 1900 .She became renowned for her portrait miniatures of wealthy society figures and exhibited her work in Paris and at the Society of Miniaturists in London where she was also an elected member.
Provenance
Presented with Dorneywood by Sir Courtauld Thomson (1865 – 1954) to the National Trust in 1942
Credit line
Dorneywood, The Courtauld Thomsom Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Winifred Hope Thomson (1864 - Beaconsfield 1944)
References
Conroy, Rachel, Women Artists and Designers at the National Trust, 2025, pp. 156-7