John Westlake, by Marianne Stokes, née Preindlsberger (1855-1927). 1902. Egg tempera on panel. 7 1/2 in. x 5 1/4 in. (191 mm x 133 mm). Collection: National Portrait Gallery, London, accession no. NPG 1890. Given by the artist's widow, Alice Westlake, in 1920. Image kindly made available on the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) licence. Please read the terms and conditions on the site itself (link given in the bibliography).
Magdalen Evans numbers the influential lawyer and keen social reformer John Westlake among Marianne Stokes's patrons, and as one of those who were involved "in the growing movement in support of women's rights" (67). Although Deborah Cherry argues that a number of women artists, including Stokes, did not "lend their names to the cause," perhaps to protect their careers or because of the "art for art's sake" ethos of the time, it is quite clear that Stokes did support it "behind the scenes," as Cherry also surmises (150). Indeed, Evans writes, "in June 1908 when Fawcett organised The Woman Suffrage Procession, Marianne and May Morris (1862-1938) were among members of The Artists’ Suffrage League who contributed. They designed and helped produce the banners, many in fine needlework... (67). — Jacqueline Banerjee
Bibliography
Cherry, Deborah. Beyond the Frame: Britain, Feminism and Visual Culture, 1850-1900. London and New York: Routledge, 2000.
Evans, Magdalen. Utmost Fidelity: The Painting Lives of Marianne and Adrian Stokes. Clifton, Bristol: Sansom, 2009.
John Westlake. National Portrait Gallery, London . Web. 8 June 2023.
Wells, Nathan. "Westlake, John (1828–1913), jurist." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 8 June 2023.
Created 8 June 2023