Lot 559: GEORGE FRANK MILES (1852-1891) Portrait of Lillie

GEORGE FRANK MILES (1852-1891) Portrait of Lillie Langtry (The Jersey Lily), half-length, her arms outstretched and wearing a short white dress Oil on canvas, 57 x 41cm Provenance: Acquired by Tony Sweeney from Malcolm Alexander Antiques, Dublin Frank Miles, who died by his own hand in a Bristol asylum. The greatest of all the late Victorian beauties, Lillie shared her affections with a wide variety of suitors from princes to artists. A woman of talent as well as beauty, she published her memoirs; acted on the stage in England and the United States; enjoyed considerable success on the Turf, Merman's 1897 victory being the first occasion that a woman won the Cesarewitch; and is still remembered in America for her improbable achievement as a Californian wine producer. She married Sir Hugo de Bathe, characterised by contemporaries as a baronet of little consequence, later withdrew to the Riviera and died there at Monte Carlo in 1925.