PORTRAIT OF GEORGE LEWIS.

Image: unattributed source.

  • Title(s): Portrait of George Lewis (this web site; all auctions below).
  • Description:
  • Media: oil on canvas (multiple sources).
  • Dimensions: 40,6 x 31,1 inches (103.0 x 79.0cm) (Sotheby’s, 1995); 401/2 x 31 1/8 in. (103 x 79.2 cm.) (Christie’s 2001, 2002 x 2).
  • Signature/date/other text: “signed with initials and dated ALS 1914 [lower right]” (Sotheby’s, 1995); “signed with initials and dated ‘A.L.S. 1917’ (lower right)” (Christie’s, 2002).
  • History:
    • Note: 1995 auction states 1914 but George would have only been 3 or 4 years old at that time, so 1917 when George would be 6 or 7, as stated in later auctions, more likely.
    • 1995 Jun 7 – Auctioned Sotheby’s, New York, lot 161 (RKD Research).
    • Illustrated on page 124 of the catalog”, sold: hammer £1,300.
    • 2001 Jun 12 – Auctioned Christie’s, London, lot 75, “PROVENANCE The Lewis family”, passed.
    • 2002 May 23 – Auctioned Christie’s, London, lot 82, “PROVENANCE The Lewis Family”.
    • 2002 Nov 14 – Auctioned Christie’s, London, lot 171, “PROVENANCE The Lewis Family”, sold: hammer £650, premium £822.
  • Location: ?

“George Lewis was the grandson of Sir George and Lady Lewis; his parents were George James Lewis and Marie, nee Hirsch. He bacame the third baronet, and died in the late stages of the Second World War in an aircrash. PROVENANCE The Lewis family; Mrs Elizabeth Wansbrough” (Sotheby’s, 7 Jun 2025).

“The sitter was the grandson of Sir George Lewis (1833-1911), a solicitor of unusual brilliance who extricated the Prince of Wales from the Tranby Croft baccarat scandal, and advised Whistler on his bankruptcy following the libel case he brought against Ruskin in 1878. He patronised many contemporary artists – Sargent and Alma-Tadema were clients, and Burne-Jones’s celebrated portrait of his daughter Katie was sold in these rooms on 14 June 2000, lot 20 (œ240,000)” (Christie’s, 23 May 2002).

Page last updated 27 Oct 2025.