Images: composited from images at Gorringe’s.

• Media: oil on canvas.
• Dimensions: 81.3 x 66.0 cm.
• History:
  • 1904 – “signed and dated 1904“.
  • 1985 – Auctioned Phillip’s, London, 18 June [dead link], “The Young Violinist … 81.28 cm × 66.04 cm”, lot 75, sold: hammer £500.
  • 2019 – Auctioned Gorringe’s, Lewes, 1 Oct , lot 650, “Oil on canvas with a rather shiny varnish, paint showing a pronounced craquelure which is starting to lift throughout to the point where it is getting close to flaking particularly through the skirt, but also in the flesh tones otherwise small fibres or hairs are stuck in the varnish most notably the brown area in front of her face, signed lower right, housed in an old an probably original ebonised frame which has a few small dents and losses, a paper label attached giving further details of the work such as title, date etc.”, provenance “A private collection in Sussex”, sold: £1,000.
  • 2020 onwards – for sale at John Robertson, Surrey, “Condition Excellent. The canvas has been conserved and relined … 32″ Tall x 26 Wide … Provenance A private collection in Sussex … Signed and dated 1904”.
• Location: vendor.

William and Margaret Whitelegge, of Knutsford, Cheshire, had two daughters, Sylvia (b. 1886) and Alice (b. about 1887). Dacre is on record as has having exhibited a portrait of Alice in 1904 and of both young women (as separate works) in 1905, the date on your canvas. Newspapers of the time describes one woman as sitting under a “coloured sunshade” and the other as carrying a violin, but don’t say which is which. As Sylvia qualified as a violin teacher at the Royal Academy of Music in 1908 (The Musical Times, Feb 1 1907, p2), she was presumably the latter. Circumstantial evidence without further supporting information, but a strong probability that this is therefore her Portrait of Sylvia Leam Whitelegge.

Note: There is also a record of a painting exhibited at “the fall Manchester Fine Arts Academy at the City art gallery in 1898. It was the central picture of the show, a young girl playing the violin” (Mike Stewart).

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Thanks to Mike Stewart for information on the Whitelegge portraits.

Page last updated 9 Jun 2025.