Lot 305: Henry Jones Thaddeus (Irish, 1860-1929) A portrait

Henry Jones Thaddeus (Irish, 1860-1929) A portrait of the Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, aged four, oil on canvas, signed and dated 1886 left centre, with the Romanov arms upper right, the canvas 97 x 66 cm (38 x 26 in), in a gilt gesso rococo frame. Note: An old label on the stretcher identifies the subject as Grand Duchess Olga, younger daughter of Tsar Alexander III and sister of Tsar Nicholas II. In fact, the subject is Elena, the daughter of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, Alexander III's younger brother, and therefore Nicholas II's first cousin. Born in 1882, she married Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and died in 1957. Thaddeus painted her at her father's house in Cannes and his memoirs record her as being 'a bright-eyed, fascinating child, but rebellious and hot-tempered'. He recounts how one day during the sitting she 'pouted the whole time', before attacking her nanny and then Thaddeus himself with a paper-knife.