Maud Russell (1891-1982)
Frank Dobson (London 1886 - London 1963)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1926 - 1927
Materials
Bronze
Order this imageCollection
Mottisfont, Hampshire
NT 770880
Summary
Bronze bust of Maud Russell
Full description
Maud Russell (1891-1982) purchased Mottisfont Abbey with her husband Gilbert in 1934. Maud was regular patron of the arts and commissioned several well-known artists, including Matisse, to draw her.The artist Frank Dobson (1888-1963) appears to have been a well-known acquaintance of Maud Russell (she called him "Dobbie"), with her diaries recording meeting him at several lunches and dinners in the 1920s and 30s. This bust appears to have been made between 1926 and 1927. Maud's diary records that her first sitting was on 1 June, 1926, with a further 8 sittings that month. Then in April 1927 there were more sittings, starting on 12 April, until finally on 5 May 1927 her engagement diary records, "Dobson 3.30. Last sitting". (Information provided by Emily Russell).
Provenance
Commissioned by Maud Russell, 1926-27 and donated to the University of Edinburgh in 1964. Item on loan to the National Trust from the University of Edinburgh.
Makers and roles
Frank Dobson (London 1886 - London 1963), sculptor