| Number | AMHAM: OBJECT.2116 |
|---|---|
| Date | (1944) |
| About this object | The sitter for this portrait is unknown. It is possible that the sitter was Marie-Louise’s 46-year-old neighbour Elizabeth Barnes who ran a boarding house, Heathcott, and bred budgerigars (budgies). Ines Schlenker’s Catalogue Raisonné includes another portrait of the same sitter, Model with Bird Cage (p181, ref: 77). The anonymous subject is depicted smiling shyly, perhaps revealing an unease in being painted. She is shown seated in a high-back chair against a stained and divided, background of orange ochre and grey-blue. Directional lighting casts half her face in a soft shadow contrasting the orange section behind. This dramatic lighting, alongside the sitter’s expression - part grimace, part smile - makes the painting feel like an active interrogation. Do you recognise the sitter? If you do, please contact the museum to let us know: [email protected] Presented by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust in 2024. ©️Tate. (Schlenker ref: 67) |
| Made By | Marie-Louise von Motesiczky |
| Made In | Amersham (Presumed) |
| Physical Description | Oil painting on canvas, glazed, in modern wooden frame |