Mistress Dorothy, 1873, by G. A. Storey R.A. (1834-1919). Left: Oil on canvas. 43 x 34 inches (109.2 x 86.4 cm). Private collection. This image was kindly provided by the owner of the first sketch (shown on the right), from an old auction catalogue of Woolley & Wallis (right click disabled; should not be downloaded). Right: First Sketch for Mistress Dorothy, 1873. Watercolour and gouache on paper. 8 3/4 x 6 inches (22.3 x 15.4 cm). Private collection.
Although Storey had painted portraits from the beginning of his career, this particular portrait, which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1873 and later at the International Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, helped to establish his reputation in this field and resulted in many future commissions. It remains one of his best portraits, even though he himself later wrote "And yet there seems nothing to me now so very wonderful about the work; I do not feel very proud of it" (283). In the late 1860s and into the 1870s, Dutch seventeenth-century painting principally influenced Storey's art. In this work, however, can be seen the impact of the Spanish art that Storey had admired when he had lived in Spain a decade earlier and where he had thought very highly of the work of the Spanish Old Masters in the Prado in Madrid, particularly Diego de Velázquez.
Storey was not alone in his admiration for Velázquez and amongst his near contemporaries, artists like James McNeill Whistler and John Everett Millais also extolled his work. Whistler's famous portrait of his mother, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, for instance, had a similar monochromatic palette and had been exhibited at the Royal Academy the year previously in 1872. Millais's diploma work, A Souvenir of Velázquez, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1868. Rosemary Treble, however, feels that the painting's most important antecedent was Thomas Gainsborough's Portrait of Mrs. Siddons, even though the pose has been reversed (78). Gainsborough's portrait had been acquired by the National Gallery in 1862, so Storey would have been very familiar with it.
In Storey's work Dorothy is portrayed seated and facing right, three-quarter length, and wearing a black riding-dress with a prominent white lace collar evoking the fashion of the eighteenth century. On her hands she wears brown leather gloves. Her large black hat is a striking feature of the painting and had many female admirers at the time that it was first exhibited, because such hats were not in fashion. Surprisingly, Storey relates that the hat "which, after all, was only an old Chelsea pensioner's head-gear twisted into a different shape, and ornamented with a ribbon and a big bow" (283).
The genesis of this work is well chronicled in Storey's Sketches from Memory. The model who posed for the portrait, whom Storey denotes only as "Miss S," was Ellen Edgcombe Score, the daughter of William Score, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Mrs. Anna Maria Charretie, a fellow artist who often painted figure subjects in eighteenth century dress, had introduced Ellen to Storey. If Ellen had previously modelled for Charretie that might explain why Storey had envisioned her as an eighteenth-century beauty. Ellen had initially posed for Storey for some of the figures in a picture entitled Scandal that he also exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1873. One day she came into the studio in high spirits and announced her engagement to Charles Henry Baber. Storey congratulated her sincerely upon her happiness, but noted that the only drawback to the marriage would be that he would lose her as a model. Storey then remarked in his Sketches: "She sat down as at our first interview, with her hands in her lap, and did not turn her face away this time, but looked at me as if she wished me to share her happiness, and again I said, 'Stay as you are.' I then took a fresh canvas and began my picture of Mistress Dorothy, and whether it was a good or a bad picture, at all events it was an inspiration" (279). After the first sitting was done, the art dealer Thomas Agnew came visiting by chance and "was struck with the rub-in" of the sketch on the canvas. When Agnew visited the studio upon three successive occasions, he found that the asking price had increased from an initial one hundred to three hundred guineas.
Storey went on to describe what happened when he submitted the work to the Royal Academy:
"Sir Francis Grant was the President, and he too was taken with Dorothy. When she came up before the Council of Ten, over which he presided, he exclaimed – 'My God! what a fine woman! what a splendid creature! Who's the painter?' and on being informed, said, 'Bravo! Storey.' It so happened that that same evening Sir Francis Grant dined with Baron Rothschild, and, still impressed with Dorothy, he spoke of her in high terms. And to show how curiously events interlaced themselves, and how by apparently the merest accidents other events come about that are most unexpected, on the very next day after that dinner in Piccadilly, a splendid equipage, with a pair of prancing and snorting steeds, drove up to my modest dwelling in St. Mary's Terrace, Paddington, and a handsome young gentleman presented himself to the modest artist to ask if his picture of Mistress Dorothy was for sale, and for how much? I named the same price that I had asked Tom Agnew, namely three hundred guineas, sent a small sketch of the work, and the next day received a cheque for the amount. And, furthermore, after Dorothy returned from the Academy, the Baron sent me an invitation to call and see him in Piccadilly, where I found him and Dorothy en tête-à-tête; he was on the sofa, and she on a chair not far off. 'There she is,' said he. 'I like her to keep me company, and you must come and see her and me whenever you feel inclined. I am always at home on Saturday afternoon.'… I paid many visits to the great rich Baron de Rothschild, and was always amiably received – and all through Dorothy." [281-82]
When the portrait was shown at the Royal Academy in 1873 it was widely, if not extensively reviewed. The Architect simply said: "Mr. Storey has a charming study called Mistress Dorothy (893)" (287). The critic of The Art Journal found it an attractive work: "We are quickly attracted by the refined and sweetly expressive 'Mistress Dorothy' (893), by G. H. Storey [sic]. There is a quiet steadfastness of gaze about this sweet face that raises it above mere prettiness; and the grave tones of dress and background are arranged with graceful, artistic feeling" (238). F. G. Stephens mentions the work three times in his reviews of the Academy for The Athenaeum. In his most extensive one, he feels in some respects that it is the best picture that Storey showed that year: "Mr. Storey's Mistress Dorothy (893) is, in some respects, his best picture, although it is a little blackish in colour. A fair and buxom English girl in a black hat, seated, demure, with a charming face and expression" (700). James Dafforne, in summarizing Storey's career to date in The Art Journal of 1875, mentioned how Mistress Dorothy had led to further requests for ladies' portraits: "Whether it be an actual portrait or an ideal one is of little import; it is a sweet face, very expressive in its gentle quietude, and the figure is elegantly 'set' and gracefully costumed. The picture may be accepted as an example of the artist's style of female portraiture" (176).
In the literary journal The Attempt, a critic known only by her nom de plume Enna, did not know exactly how to interpret this "fancy" portrait:
I will only describe one more picture, lest by attempting too much, I fail to convey a distinct impression of any. As I recall Mistress Dorothy (No. 893, – G. A. Storey), I scarcely know whether she be a portrait, or some sweet creation of the brain. There is a rare charm about her face, a sort of serious grace, as she looks calmly at us from under the large shady black hat, which, however, does not at all conceal her features. A large muslin collar or kerchief, and a black dress – it is a half-length – complete her attire; the back-ground is neutral, nor is there one single accessory to spoil the simplicity of the effect. I would only venture to suggest that one of her gloves might have been off, such an unpromising pair of 'Hexham tan' rather spoils the shapeliness of the hands, which they conceal. [262]
A preliminary sketch for the picture is in a private London collection. It is inscribed on the verso "First Sketch for Mistress Dorothy. The sitter's dress in the sketch differs in small but significant ways from that within the finished painting. The most obvious difference is the inclusion of the wall hanging to the right in the sketch, which is absent from the finished painting. This sketch is undoubtedly not the small sketch that Storey sent to Baron Rothschild that he mentions in Sketches, instead remaining with the body of Storey's drawings from his studio. The Graphic Christmas Number for 1873 published a large engraving of the painting while another engraving appeared in The Art Journal in 1875 (p. 174).
Bibliography
Dafforne, James. "The Works of George Adolphus Storey." The Art Journal New Series XIV (1875): 173-76.
Enna. "Notes on some Pictures in the Royal Academy." The Attempt IX (1873): 257-62.
"Exhibition of the Royal Academy." The Art Journal New Series XII (August 1873): 236-41.
Margaux, Adrian. "The Art of Mr. G. A. Storey, A.R. A." The Windsor Magazine XXII (1905): 623-25.
Storey, G. A.: Sketches from Memory. London: Chatto and Windus, 1899, 277-86.
Stephens, Frederic George. "Fine Arts. The Royal Academy." The Athenaeum No. 2379 (31 May 1873): 699-702.
Strahan, Edward. Masterpieces of the Centennial Exhibition. Philadelphia: Gebbie & Barrie, Vol. I, Fine Art, 1876, 71-74.
"The Paintings at the Royal Academy." The Architect IX (31 May 1873): 286-87.
Treble, Rosemary. Great Victorian Pictures.Their Paths to Fame. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1978, cat. 55, 78.
Created 24 September 2023