Portrait of Sir Walter Palmer

Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (1829-1904)

1896

Pastel on paper

26 1/2 x 19 1/4 inches, 67.3 x 49.5 centimetres

Provenance: Sir Walter Palmer; to his daughter Gladys Palmer Brooke By descent to 1986

Exhibited: London, International Society, January-February 1905, number 153

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Commentary by Peter Nahum and Sally Burgess

Father was so delighted with the achievements of these two artists [Halee and Frank Dicksee] that he asked Frederick Sandys to make pastel portraits of myself and my mother. I remember the tall old man; the strength impressed itself upon me as soon as he entered the room, yet his hands shook so constantly that while he worked he had to steady his right hand by holding it firmly against his board He charged £ 1,000 each for his pictures, but in spite of these vast earnings, he never had a penny to his name. He finished and signed the portrait of my mother, but the drawing of my father — a speaking likeness — and the picture he drew of me were never signed. Upon their completion, Sandys disappeared and the two portraits with him. For many months we could not get in touch with him or find any trace of the pictures (we learned later that he had pawned them). One day, however, an old four-wheeler drove up to the house, and in it was my portrait and my father's. The old cabby lifted them out and carried them out into the hall, he set them down against the wall, demanded his two and six-pence, and left the house" [Brooke, pp. 60-61].

Sir Walter Palmer (1858-19 10) was the son of George Palmer, one of the founders of Huntley and Palmer, the famous Reading biscuit company. His wife, Lady Jean Palmer, was a close friend of George Meredith in his later years, and this connection probably led to the commission of the portraits; Sandys was an old and close friend of the poet.

The precision of Sandys' work, contrasts directly with the bohemianism of his life. He had endless debts but had an easy-going attitude to all his problems. Once, when his friends tried to raise five hundred pounds to enable him to emigrate, he declared that if he had five hundred pounds he could stay in England. He seems to have abandoned his first wife, then had a short-lived relationship with a gypsy girl, Keomi, before forming a liaison with a young actress Mary Jones (Miss Clive) who bore him nine children. His daughters Winifred and Gertrude became the first and second wives of Lionel Crane, Walter Crane's son.

References

Brooke, Gladys. H. H. The Dayang Muda of Sarawak, Relations and Complications. London, 1929.

Nahum, Peter, and Sally Burgess. Pre-Raphaelite-Symbolist-Visionary. London: Peter Nahum at Leicester Galleries. Catalogue number 38.

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Last modified 23 August 2001