About this lot

Description

Study for The Nun (study) pencil on buff paper 28 x 19.5cm

Footnote: Provenace According to a gallery label to the reverse, the drawing was given by Gwen John to George Lambourn and thence to his widow With Michael Parkin Fine Art Ltd. In the winter of 1912-13, following a tempestuous, passionate and, above all, transformative affair with Auguste Rodin, Gwen John was received into the Catholic Church. Frequently and ardently worshipping at the local convent in Meudon, a Parisian suburb, John became closely acquainted with the Dominican Sisters of Charity and was soon commissioned to create a portrait of their foundress, Marie Poussepin. Obsessively committed to her task, John spent the next eight years producing a total of six portraits of Mère Poussepin and spent a further four years creating at least eleven more portraits of nuns. The present work dates from the mid to late 1910s, and is believed to be a study for John’s The Nun, circa 1915-21 which was purchased by the Tate Gallery in 1940. We are grateful to Cecily Langdale and Rebecca John for their assistance with authenticating the present work.

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