Lot 184: William Clarke Wontner (British, 1857-1930)

An Elegant Beauty
signed 'W. Wontner' (bottom center)
oil on canvas
30 x 25 in. (76.5 x 63 cm.)

Anonymous sale, Christie's, New York, 1 November 1999, lot 184.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Although he mainly exhibited formal portraits of establishment figures, Wontner's posthumous reputation largely rests with a series of classical beauties, of which the present picture is a particularly fine example. The format of a single female figure, half length, against a marble background was popularised by John William Godward (1861-1922), who himself continued a long tradition, as exemplified by Leighton and Alma-Tadema, of painting the classical ideal.