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Commentary by the Maas gallery

This is the bronze version of the marble mask of Lady Diana Duff-Cooper, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1922 (illustrated in The Graphic, 6 May 1922, p. 18 and The Sphere, 6 May 1922, p. 26). Lady Cooper was a friend of the sculptor, and helped him secure many aristocratic commissions. This bronze belonged to her, and may have been gifted to her by Reid Dick. Lady Diana Cooper, aristocrat, actress, society hostess, political consort and beauty, was born at Belvoir Castle in 1892. Her supposed father was the eighth Duke of Rutland, but she was in fact the product of a long affair between her mother and the Honourable Henry “Harry” Cust, of the neighbouring Belton estate.

Lady Diana first became known as a member of ‘The Coterie’ set in London before the First World War. Following her marriage in 1919 to Alfred Duff Cooper (later Viscount Norwich), who was to serve as a minister in Churchill’s War Cabinet, Lady Diana’s reputation as a society hostess was confirmed. Her reputation as a beauty was cemented with Hoppé’s decision to include her in the 1922 Book of Fair Women. As an actress, her most famous role was as the Madonna in Max Reinhardt’s The Miracle, a role she played on Broadway in 1923 and was to play for three years on tour around Europe and in Britain.

Last modified 9 October 2021