Name: Dorothy Eugenie Brett (1883-1977)
Brand: Portrait of a young man
Price: 6000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

Dorothy Eugenie Brett (1883-1977)
Portrait of a young man
signed and dated DEBRETT 1922 (lower right)
the reverse with J. Bryce Smith, Hampstead label and indecipherable exhibition label
oil on canvas
19 x 16¹⁄₂ in. (48.3 x 41.9 cm.)
Executed in 1922.

Acquired by Oliver Messel (1904-1978), and by descent to Lord Snowdon.

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.

Conditions of Sale
FAQs
This lot is offered by Christie Manson & Woods Ltd

Brought to you by

Lot Essay

Although the sitter of this portrait remains sadly unknown, it has been suggested that it could represent a gardener at Katherine Mansfield's house in Sierre, Switzerland where Dorothy Brett spent time in 1922. The white house behind with its closed shutters does bear similarities to the building shown in photographs of Mansfield and Brett at this time, and the tree and building undoubtedly are European.

It has also been suggested that the sitter could be Lionel 'Tiger' Gomme, the gardener and briefly the lover of Lady Ottoline Morrell at Garsington before his sudden death in 1922. There is a photograph of Gomme (illustrated in M. Seymour, Ottoline Morrell: A Life on the Grand Scale, London, 2009, p. 310-311), dated 1920, wearing a similar apron to the present lot.

We are grateful to Sarah MacDougall for her assistance in the catalouging of this lot.

Post Lot Text

Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot. You must pay us an extra amount equal to the resale royalty and we will pay the royalty to the appropriate authority. Please see the Conditions of Sale for further information.