Friday, January 2, 2015

Molti Ritratti: Violet, Duchess of Rutland

Marion Margaret Violet (née Lindsay) Manners, Duchess of Rutland (1856-1937) was a famous Victorian beauty who was also an able amateur artist. A biographical sketch is here.

Given her social position and the fact that she was in her prime during a golden age of British portraiture, I find it surprising that Violet was little depicted. And those major portraits of her, as best I could locate via Google, were by only two artists, George Frederic Watts and James Jebusa Shannon.

Gallery

Photo of Violet Lindsay Manners

Self-Portrait

By George Frederic Watts - 1879

By George Frederic Watts - 1881

By James Jebusa Shannon - c. 1890

By James Jebusa Shannon - c. 1900
Other images on the Web have a blue cast to this image. I don't know which color scheme is correct, but am posting this one because it is larger.

By James Jebusa Shannon - 1918
Similar to the previous portrait, but Violet was now about 62 years old.

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