Lot 16: William Clarke Wontner (1857-1930)

Lois signed and dated 'W.Wontner 1918' oil on canvas 25 x 21 in. (63.5 x 53.3 cm.) PROVENANCE with Richard Haworth, Blackburn, by 1926. Purchased by the present owner's father and thence by descent. NOTES Lois compares to Cyrene (lot 14) in concept and style, and may have been executed as a companion piece. Wontner has placed his model against a cool marble backdrop, a device which serves to enhance the rich colours of her costume. It also alludes to the classical world which remained, to both Wontner and his fellow painter John William Godward, the main locus of their inspiration. Whether inferred or direct, this aesthetic influence is present in Wontner's more imaginative work, though it is sometimes absent from his more orthodox portraits. Lois, like Cyrene, fuses together the modern and the classical world. The marble is doubly symbolic; it had been adopted by interior decorators establishing their own take on the Greek frigidarium. Similarly, Lois herself wears a snake bangle which alludes to ancient designs, and her delicate evening gown is secured at the shoulder like a toga. Her unadorned neck and simple hairstyle further ratify the greco-roman aesthetic, which emphasised elegant line rather than fussy decoration. John William Godward's comparable depictions of classical figures placed against marble surfaces often confine the head to a greater degree, as for example in Sabinella (1912) or A Classical Beauty (1909). For an enlightening account of both Godward and Wontner's aesthetic milieu, see Vern Swanson, John William Godward, The Eclipse of Classicism, 1997. SALESROOM NOTICE Please note that the provenance for this picture should read: with Richard Haworth, Blackburn, by 1926.