Saturday, October 27, 2012

Frederick Sandys - Miss Doris ...



PORTRAIT OF MISS DORIS SIMONETTE CATTO
signed, titled and dated u.r.: Doris Simonette Catto. 1893/ F Sandys
coloured chalk with pencil
81.5 by 81.5cm., 32 by 32in.

Commissioned by the parents of the sitter and thence to the sitter

Betty Elzea, Frederick Sandys 1829-1904, A Catalogue Raisonne, 2001, p.280, no.5.10

‘a most delightful child-picture in crayons, full of grace and refinement. The finish, delicacy and beauty of line in this work is equal to anything he has already achieved.’ (anonymous review possibly from The Times) Doris was the only child of John and Emma Elizabeth Catto who moved from Australia to live in London at 68
Cavendish Road. She was born in 1887 and was therefore six when Sandys drew this charming portrait; she died unmarried in 1964. Her mother was also the subject of a portrait drawing by Sandys also dated 1893 (Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas).

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