Madame Patey (portrait)
James Jebusa Shannon (1862-1923)
Oil on canvas
1884
Support: 1275 × 889 mm
Collection: Tate Gallery, London (NO4263)
Presented by Ethel Jackson (Madame Patey's daughter) in 1927
Richly attired in an evening dress with flounced bodice and sleeves, and a bold pattern of roses, Madame Janet Monach Patey (née Whytock) is about to begin singing. She was said to have the finest contralto voice of the age, and was the star of many concerts (see Bennett 539-40). In this formal and highly finished portrait, Shannon has captured both her commanding presence and her composure.
Image kindly made available on the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence. Downloaded, and comment added, by Jacqueline Banerjee.