Lot 55: Sir James Jebusa Shannon, RA, RBA, RHA (British, 1862-1923) Portrait of Mrs Senior (née Hammersley) (1864-1943)

Sir James Jebusa Shannon, RA, RBA, RHA (British, 1862-1923)
Portrait of Mrs Senior (née Hammersley) (1864-1943)
signed and dated 'J.J.SHANNON/18 99' (lower left)
oil on canvas
117 x 98cm (46 1/16 x 38 9/16in).
Footnotes

Provenance
Private collection, UK

Exhibited
London, The New Gallery, Summer Exhibition, 1899, no.170, entitled Mrs Senior

Mabel Barbara Hammersley (1864-1943) was one of nine children by Hugh Hammersley (1819-1882) and Dulcibella Eden (d.1903). The family lived in a large house in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey. In 1887, she married barrister Walter Nassau Senior (1850-1933), with whom she had one son, Oliver Nassau Senior (1901-1992). They moved from their London home in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, settling in Eastbourne from 1912.

The present lot was one of three female portraits by Shannon exhibited at The New Gallery's Summer Exhibition in 1899, and was well-received by critics. The Morning Post wrote, 'the executive dexterity of Mr. J. J. Shannon imparts distinction to his picture of 'Mrs. Senior'. With marked skill has he indicated the unaffected grace of the lady's pose as she sits glancing outward, her gaze momentarily diverted from examination of the print which she holds in hand."1

We are grateful to Barbara Dayer Gallati for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.

1The Morning Post, 'The New Gallery', London, 25 April 1899, p.5