Friday, July 17, 2009

William Powell Frith - Annie Gambart


oil on canvas
54 x 43cm
1851/2
Commissioned by Ernest Gambart for his wedding
A portrait of Annie Gambart (1835-1870), who was the third wife of Ernest Gambart, the great Victorian art dealer and publisher. She married him in 1851 at just sixteen, half the dealer's age. Gambart seems to have indulged her every whim at first with beautiful clothes and jewellery. However in 1867 the couple separated and Annie went on to die of liver disease at the early age of 35.

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