"Portrait Study of Adele Donaldson" by Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (1829-1904)

Portrait Study of Adele Donaldson, by Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (1829-1904)

Dennis T. Lanigan

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Portrait Study of Adele Donaldson

Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (1829-1904)

1897

Pencil and coloured chalks on greenish-blue paper

23 7/8 x 16 1/8 inches (60.6 x 46 cm)

Private Collection, image shown here courtesy of Christie's (not to be reproduced; right click disabled)

This portrait drawing was included in the Sandys retrospective held at the Winter Exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1905, no. 288, following Sandys's death.

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Betty Elzea describes this portrait in this way: "Half-length of a young girl facing left, with her head turned slightly towards the spectator. She has long fair hair and a circlet of forget-me-nots around her head. She is wearing a loose pink dress with a square collar and loose puff sleeves, showing a white ruffled undergarment at the neck. Behind her and in front are branches with apple blossoms" (284). It is unknown whether the forget-me-nots and apple blossoms were chosen purely for decorative reasons or whether they were meant to convey meaning in the Victorian language of flowers. It is more likely to be the former, however, since the sitter was only thirteen or fourteen at the time and forget-me-nots symbolize true love and constancy while apple blossoms could signify preference to a romantic suitor.

The sitter was Adèle Violet Blanche Donaldson, the daughter of Sir George Donaldson, an art dealer and collector who owned a gallery on New Bond Street. Sandys had previously been commissioned to portray Donaldson's wife Alice as Alcestis in 1877 (Elzea cat. 3.75). When Adèle's portrait was drawn the Donaldsons were residing at Lymes Holme, Great Stanmore, Middlesex. Adèle later married Sir Morgan George Crofton, 6th Bt., on 19 November 1919. She died on 9 December 1931 in Paris.

Bibliography

Bate, Percy "The Late Frederick Sandys: A Retrospective." The Studio XXXIII (October 1904): 3-17. [The original image on this webpage, added in 2010 by George P. Landow, was an engraving of this portrait on p. 9.]

Elzea, Betty. Frederick Sandys 1829-1904. A Catalogue Raisonné. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Antique Collectors' Club Ltd., 2001, cat. no. 5.27, 284-85.

Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and British Impressionist Art. London: Christie's (11 July 2017): lot 60.

Created 23 December 2010

Last modified 18 August 2025