Portrait
of Ena Wertheimer:
A Vele
Gonfie
John Singer
Sargent -- American
painter
1905
Tate Gallery
London
Oil on
canvas
163 x
108 cm
Bequeathed by
Robert Mathias
1996
Jpg: Tate
Gallery
From: Tate
Gallery Display Caption
(05-Sep-2001)
This [Wertheimer
portrait] is unusually
lively, and shows her wearing, as a joke, the Court dress of Lord
Londonderry,
which had been left in Sargent’s studio by another of his sitters. The
portrait’s sub-title refers to her billowing cloak. The first of the
Wertheimer
family portraits was commissioned by Helena’s father, Asher, in 1898,
and
the rest followed at intervals.
From: The
Queen:
25 June 1910
Exhibition
entitled 'A Dream
of Fair Women' - at Oldham Art Gallery (?)
".........Black
is also painted
with much cleverness. This is shown in Sargent's picture of Mrs
Mathias,
in G W Philpot's of Mrs Emile Mond, and in W.
B. Ranken's of Mrs Brown Potter."
Ena was featured in a
double portrait
with her sister four years previously.
Ena
and Betty, Daughters of Asher and Mrs. Wertheimer
1901
Ena would later
marry her first husband
Mr. Robert M. Mathias
Portrait
of Robert Mathias
1913
(Husband)
From: Julian Mathias
j r
m@julianmathias.co.uk
Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004
I am the grandson of
Robert Mathias and Ena (nee Wertheimer) and the great grandson of Asher
Wertheimer.
I find your website
fascinating, and if you would like me to try to tie up any loose ends
regarding JSS's relationship with my family,
please let me know.
I have
very little in the way of written material but will try to come up with
something that may be of interest.
For example, the
picture A vele Gonfie was a wedding present from Asher
Wertheimer to both my grandparents. My grandmother was always short of
cash and she in fact sold it in the late twenties or early thirties,
and had a copy made which she hung in its normal place. When my
grandfather found out he was furious, but several years later, after
her death, was able to buy the portrait back from America and kept it
for the rest of his life.
If I can discover any
other relevant anecdotes, I will let you know.
The Wertheimer paintings
Notes:
Special thanks to
Wendy & Gordon
Hawksley, of Sheffield, England, friends
of the JSS Gallery, for sending me the exceprt of The Queen review
Exhibition
History:
(special thanks to
Heather Birchall
Assistant Curator at
the Tate for
this)
Royal Academy,
London 1905, no.376
Grafton Gallery,
London 'Fair Women',
1910
Corcoran Gallery of
Art, Washington
'Commemorataive Exhibition by Members of the National Academy of
Design',
1925 no.75 and NY, Grand Central Art Galleries 1925-6, no.302
AIC, Chicago, 1934,
no.406
Washington 1964,
no.68
Japan 1989, no.43
Frist Center,
Nashville 'Whistler,
Sargent and Steer' 2002
Forum
From: juan
bejarano veiga
<juan
carlosbe jarano@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul
2003
Dear Natasha
My name is Juan Carlos
Bejarano,
and I am an art historian who is doing a research about the portrait of
Ena Wertheimer. A vele gonfie, painted by Sargent in 1905, now in the
Tate
Britain. I wrote you long time ago, asking for information about the
possible
relation between Sargent and Ramon Casas, a Spanish painter of the
Modernismo.
Now I would be very interested in knowing when this picture was
exhibited
throughout the lifetime of Sargent, because I have found a replica made
by a Spanish painter, so I could know when this painter could see this
painting.
I apologize for my
English, but I
think that this information could be very important in relation to my
research,
and the third volume of the Sargent catalogue raisonné hasn't
still
released. Thank you very much!
Sincerely,
Juan Carlos
From: Natasha
I wrote the Tate
gallery and Heather
Birchall sent me the exhibition history back -- see above.
From: juan
bejarano veiga
Thank you very much
for your help.
When I get my research finished, I will send you what I have found.
Sincerely,
Juan Carlos
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