New Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell Discovered

I’ve known for some time that Wilhelm Heinrich Funk painted Lady Colin Campbell in 1899. The portrait was exhibited at Thomas McLean's Galleries in January 1900 but until now I had found no trace of it in books, catalogues or art collections. So imagine the excitement when yesterday I found a copy of it in a 1900 journal. Until, that is, I saw the portrait, which I find probably the worse I have seen of her. My own subjective opinion of course, but take a look and see what you think.

It is interesting to note that when the portrait was exhibited in January 1900, Lady Colin was the art critic for The World, with her column “In the Picture Galleries.” She covered the exhibition and although she does not mention her own portrait, she said:

“The great charm in Mr. Funk's portraits is not only the admirable flesh‑painting and fine sense of colour, but that they are pictures as well as likenesses. It would be a pleasure to possess these portraits I have mentioned whether one knew the originals or not, for they are decorative works of art, beautiful in themselves and in their rendering of character.”

Frankly, I disagree!

However, I would still be interested if anyone knows the current location of the painting.

 (c) Anne Jordan 2012

Harmony in White and Ivory

I’ve just received a 1911 print depicting Whistler’s 1886 portrait of Lady Colin Campbell, “Harmony in White and Ivory.” First displayed at the time of her divorce trial, the portrait was unfinished and later disappeared, presumed destroyed by the artist himself.

Was the colour of the dress chosen to signify innocence in the face of her impending trial?

It was certainly timely. The portrait was displayed at the winter exhibition of the Society of British Artists, opening with the private viewing the day after the divorce trial began. The newspapers went wild with suggestions of the co-respondents competing to purchase the portrait of their alleged lover, but it is more likely it was destroyed by Whistler, dissatisfied with the outcome of his work.

Who's the Comte?

I’ve been reading and attempting to transcribe a letter, written by Lady Colin Campbell in 1888 to Le Figaro, in which she’s trying to get work as their London correspondent covering society news.

In the first sentence she mentions Le Comte Leon, who has told her that Le Figaro might be interested in her work, but the surname of Le Comte is unclear.

Can anyone help decipher the writing and reveal the identity of the mysterious Comte?

It appears to be something like "Ininsgach" but that's not right.

Any thoughts?

Trial Verdict

Today in 1886 was the final, 18th day of the divorce trial of Campbell vs Campbell, with the agonising wait until the verdict finally came at 10.15pm. Crowds had gathered outside to hear the verdict and cheered as word spread that both parties had been found innocent of all charges.

New Oscar Wilde letter mentioning Lady Colin

The July edition of The Wildean, a journal of the Oscar Wilde Society, has just published my article, providing context to a letter, dated May 1887, from Oscar Wilde to Alsager Vian, editor of The Court & Society Review.

The letter, one of five which came up for auction at Bamfords in September 2010, had not previously been published. It is mainly about Lady Colin Campbell and provides further evidence of the animosity between the two writers, who both contributed to The Court & Society Review.

Oscar Wilde and Lady Colin Campbell were not friends. She called him “the great white slug” or “the great white caterpillar.” He said she had “exhausted all her powers of imagination in the witness box” after reading her novel, published in 1889, three years after her notorious divorce trial.

The new letter indicates that Oscar did not know that Lady Colin was already writing for The Court & Society Review. Perhaps the editor, knowing the animosity between the pair, had not told Wilde they were fellow contributors.

Wilde also writes that Walter Herries Pollock, editor of The Saturday Review, was “outraged” at Lady Colin saying at her divorce trial that she wrote for the Saturday, as the title had a policy of anonymity, and said “he won't have any thing to do with her.” One can image Pollock was annoyed, but there is no evidence of a permanent rift, indeed in 1890 W.E. Henley wrote that Pollock had “a grand passion for Lady Colin!”  Perhaps Oscar was exaggerating Pollock’s annoyance, due to his dislike of Lady Colin.

The May 1887 letter from Wilde to Vian Alsager is an interesting addition to the evidence of the animosity between these two Irish writers, but unfortunately provides nothing new to help discover the root of their feelings.

For readers who want to find out more, The Wildean published an initial article about the five letters in its January 2011 edition and my article in July 2011. The journal is free to members of the Oscar Wilde Society (UK membership £25 per year).