Norman Prescott Davies,  Portrait of Rachel Armstrong Robertson Day, seated half-length, wearing a white dress and holding a red fan

Lot description

Norman Prescott Davies, British 1862-1915- Portrait of Rachel Armstrong Robertson Day, seated half-length, wearing a white dress and holding a red fan; oil on canvas, signed and dated 'N. PRESCOTT.-DAVIES. 1897.' (lower right), bears label for 'Percy G Beer, Southsea' attached to the lower stretcher bar, 71.5 x 51.1 cm. Provenance: with Percy G Beer, 26 Osborne Road, Southsea Private Collection, UK (by descent). Note: The present work is a particularly charming example of Davies's dreamy portraits of elegant ladies, often alone and lost in thought. Indeed, although the present sitter appears to be in an interior, the winding vines behind her recall the idealised outdoor settings which Davies's paintings typically depict. Rachel Day was married to the respected physician John Roberson Day. The couple lived in Cedar Lodge on the Isle of Wight.