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Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E , Case I, Shelf 100, Box A

The Saga of Letitia and Rachel

Watercolour Drawing
1911-13 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

One of 23 pen and ink and watercolour cartoons telling a satirical story about a make-believe wedding between the artist and two young girls with theatrical references.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Saga of Letitia and Rachel (series title)
Materials and techniques
Pen and ink and watercolour
Brief description
W. Graham Robertson. 'The Saga of Letitia and Rachel.' Series of 23 comic drawings, British, 1911-13.
Physical description
One of 23 pen and ink and watercolour cartoons telling a satirical story about a make-believe wedding between the artist and two young girls with theatrical references.
Marks and inscriptions
(Inscribed with caption)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Guy Tristram Little
Object history
The bridegroom in the Saga is a caricature of the artist, while his best man is almost certainly Mabel Beardsley. The two brides represent two little girls who were known to the artist - Rachel is almost definitely Rachel Hill, the little girl who appears in a 1914 self-portrait painted by the artist that is now in the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. Other caricatures in the story include Charles de Sousy Ricketts, Vaslav Nijinsky, the artist's publisher William Heinemann (as the "Valued Friend") and possibly the actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell as "The Proper Authorities" in the 16th instalment. The text accompanying the Saga mentions the sculptor Jacob Epstein, the art connoisseur and collector, Sir Edmund Davis, and the poet and diplomat Douglas Ainslie, as well as making reference to Mabel Beardsley renting the Victoria and Albert Museum for a tea party.

- Daniel Milford-Cottam (28/02/2017)
Bibliographic reference
Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1953 London: HMSO, 1963
Collection
Accession number
E.2747-1953

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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