PORTRAIT OF BERTHA EDGAR (PORTRAIT OF A GIRL IN A RED DRESS), by S. Isabel Dacre.

bertha-edgar-WM

Image: artuk.org.

The Manchester Courier, 21 Nov 1883, p6, states,”The portrait of Bertha, daughter of Mr. R. Edgar, is a very pleasing work in a scheme of red colour. The little lady is represented full length … .” The image at artuk.org is only half-length, so the painting may have been truncated or the newspaper is in error.

The subject is Bertha Edgar (1876-1950), daughter of Robert Ashburn Edgar (1849-1924) and Emma Macbeth (d. 1924). She would have been seven or eight in 1883. Robert was a soliciter when married in 1871 living at 208 Plymouth Grove, Rusholme, Manchester, an address ⅓ mile south-east of Elizabeth Gaskell’s house.