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
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