GUTHRIE, MR. & MRS. MURRAY

Neg. No: GP (L) 1324

Neg. Size: 15"x12"

Neg. Date: 05-07-1897

Sitters:

Walter Murray Guthrie (1869-1911); 3rd son of James Alexander Guthrie of Craigie, Governor of the Bank of England; Conservative MP for Bow and Bromley Division of Tower Hamlets 1899-1906; partner of Chalmers, Guthrie & Co., merchant bankers; director of the London Joint Stock Bank and Commercial Union Assurance Co. etc.

Mrs Walter Murray Guthrie (1872-1945); Director of the Chelsea Book Club; daughter of Sir John Leslie, 1st Bt; m 1stly (1894) Walter Murray Guthrie, merchant banker and MP; m 2ndly (1914) Lieutenant-Colonel John Alexander Stirling D.S.O., M.C. (div 1920).

Date: 5 July 1897.

Occasion: The Devonshire House Ball, 2 July 1897.

Location: Devonshire House, Piccadilly, London, W.

Descr: FL standing.

Role: (Walter Murray Guthrie) Cassio; (Mrs Guthrie) La Bella [after Titian].⁽¹⁾

Costume: (Mrs Guthrie) "...costume of peau de soie pale blue silk, and pale blue velvet tissé with relevé of gold; bodice of same with bands of blue silk embroidered gold, the bodice ornamented with profusion of diamonds." (The Gentlewoman, 10 July 1897, p 56b).

Note:

http://www.anu.edu.au/ArtHistory/renart/pics.art/Part39.html
Titian c.1477 1576 Portrait of La Bella Florence: Pitti Palace

Costume Supplier: -

Furniture & Props: Painted backdrop.

Photographer: The firm of J. Lafayette, 179 New Bond Street, London, W.

Evidence of photographer at work: -

No of poses: 2 [see also neg no 1324A].

Walter Murray & Mrs Guthrie 1897		Walter Murray Guthrie 1897

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References:

Biog: (Walter Murray Guthrie) Who's Who; The Times, 25 April 1911, p 11c; (Mrs Guthrie) Burke's Landed Gentry (see Guthrie of Craigie); Burke's Peerage (see Leslie, Bt.); Who's Who (see Guthrie, Mrs Walter Murray).

Occasion: Sophia Murphy, The Duchess of Devonshire's Ball, London, 1984.

Role & Costume: (Walter Murray Guthrie) Devonshire House Fancy Dress Ball, July 2 1897: A Collection of Portraits in Costume of Some of the Guests, privately printed, 1899, p 110, (National Portrait Gallery Archives). (Mrs. Murray Guthrie) (Role only) (Marguerita Grimani) The Morning Post, 3 July 1897, p 7e; The Times, 3 July 1897, p 12a; (Costume) The Standard, 3 July 1897, p 4b; Vanity Fair, 8 July 1897, p 27b; The Gentlewoman, 10 July 1897, p 49 [line drawing] & 56b.

Reproduced: (Version) Devonshire House Fancy Dress Ball, July 2 1897: A Collection of Portraits in Costume of Some of the Guests, privately printed, 1899, pp 109 & 110, (National Portrait Gallery Archives).

Acknowledgements: -

1. Titian, Portrait of a Lady, also known as 'La Bella', 1536, Pitti Palace, Florence (see G.C. Argan, The Renaissance, London 1969).