Portrait of Kate Perugini, Daughter of Charles Dickens by Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896). (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS MADE £241,250
THIS portrait of Kate Perugini, daughter of Charles Dickens, by Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896) comes up at Sotheby’s sale of British and Irish art in London on November 13. Widely exhibited, the work is from the estate of Katherine Mellon. The sale follows its inclusion in the touring V&A exhibition ‘The Cult of Beauty’ in San Francisco. It is estimated at £150,000-200,000.
As the youngest surviving daughter of the most famous writer of his age, Kate Dickens (1839-1929) enjoyed a high profile in society and moved in artistic circles. Millais’ painting depicts the pivotal point in Kate’s life when the occasion of her second marriage to Carlo Eduardo ‘Charles Edward’ Perugini brought her much happiness. The artist was one of only five guests at the 1874 wedding.
Millais encouraged Kate’s painting and she became a successful portrait painter. Kate’s first husband was Charles Collins, brother of the author Wilkie Collins. She was left a widow in 1873 and subsequently married Carlo Eduardo ‘Charles Edward’ Perugini. The portrait of Kate has been compared to John Singer Sargent’s infamous portrait of Madame X of i884; the suggestiveness of the American artist’s picture created a scandal, Millais’ eroticism was more subtle.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for March 13, 2012).