Portrait of Gabrielle Enthoven
Painting
ca.1911 (painted)
ca.1911 (painted)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This is the only known painting of Mrs. Gabrielle Enthoven (1868-1950), the founder of the V&A’s Department of Theatre & Performance, whose collection of over 80,000 playbills was accepted by the V&A in 1924 following the International Theatre Exhibition from Amsterdam staged at the V&A in 1922. Following its acquisition by the museum Enthoven worked voluntarily on it, augmenting it and paying for cataloguing help until her death in 1950, with only breaks during wartime.
The artist Ethel Wright (1866-1939) studied in London and Paris and was known in London’s art world by the time she was thirty. A staunch supporter of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, Wright’s painting of Christabel Pankhurst is in the National Portrait Gallery. The portrait of Enthoven was exhibited in The Royal Academy’s 1911 Exhibition and was bequeathed by Enthoven to the musicians the Harrison Sisters.
The artist Ethel Wright (1866-1939) studied in London and Paris and was known in London’s art world by the time she was thirty. A staunch supporter of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, Wright’s painting of Christabel Pankhurst is in the National Portrait Gallery. The portrait of Enthoven was exhibited in The Royal Academy’s 1911 Exhibition and was bequeathed by Enthoven to the musicians the Harrison Sisters.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
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| Title | Portrait of Gabrielle Enthoven (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Oil on canvas |
| Brief description | Framed portrait of Gabrielle Enthoven (1868-1950) by Ethel Wright (1866-1939). Oil on canvas ca.1911 |
| Physical description | S.69:1-2022 Oil painting on canvas of Gabrielle Enthoven, standing, wearing a black coat with a white carnation on the left lapel, a black stock at her throat, one white cuff showing below her left coat sleeve, and one white glove worn on her right hand that rests upon an upright piano or harmonium to her right. Her ungloved left hand is partly in her pocket, the glove dangling from it. A framed drawing or painting of a French can-can dancer hangs on the wall behind her above the dado rail. S.69:2-2022 19th-century Rococo-style frame with applied decoration of gilded pressed composition 'compo' of acanthus leaf, acanthus flower, and shell motifs. The frame has a gilded slip frame with a bevelled sight edge. Affixed to th back of the frame, top centre, is the printed label of F. Casson: 'Gilder, Picture Frame Maker, Print & Picture Dealer, Restorer & Re-Gilder, 20, Bond Street, Hull, Dealer in Artistic Materials of Every Description'. A width of canvas wrapped over the stretcher verso lower left bears the remnants of a white paper label torn in two, printed 'Royal Aca..... Arts' and 'MD...XCI', and 'Mr Enthoven.... Ethel Wright', the title and name of the artist as they appeared in the catalogue for the 1911 Royal Academy Exhibition in Burlington House. A torn white label fixed to the central wooden stretcher is inscribed with the name and address : 'Wright/ 9 Compagne Premiere/ Bould. Montparnasse/Paris/ Via Folkestone & Boulogne'. |
| Dimensions |
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| Summary | This is the only known painting of Mrs. Gabrielle Enthoven (1868-1950), the founder of the V&A’s Department of Theatre & Performance, whose collection of over 80,000 playbills was accepted by the V&A in 1924 following the International Theatre Exhibition from Amsterdam staged at the V&A in 1922. Following its acquisition by the museum Enthoven worked voluntarily on it, augmenting it and paying for cataloguing help until her death in 1950, with only breaks during wartime. The artist Ethel Wright (1866-1939) studied in London and Paris and was known in London’s art world by the time she was thirty. A staunch supporter of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, Wright’s painting of Christabel Pankhurst is in the National Portrait Gallery. The portrait of Enthoven was exhibited in The Royal Academy’s 1911 Exhibition and was bequeathed by Enthoven to the musicians the Harrison Sisters. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.69:1, 2-2022 |
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| Record created | July 7, 2022 |
| Record URL |
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