Philip Alexius de László, PRBA, 
Hungarian / British 1869-1937- 

Portrait of Mrs Edward Wigan, née Edith Wallace Russell; 

oil on canvas, signed and dated 'de László / 1930' (lower right), bears inscription 'Edith Wigan / Wife of Ed. A Wigan / of [?] Andover... + daughter of the Rt Honble / Sir T.W Russell Bart.' on the canvas attached to the upper horizontal stretcher bar, 88.5 x 63.7 cm. 

Provenance: 
Private Collection, Spain. 

Literature: 
Laib L16040(484) / C28(4): Mrs. Wigham. 
NPG Album 1929-31, p.16. 
Sitters’ Book II, f. 65: Edith Wigan. 
László, Philip de, 1933 diary, 26 November entry, p.25. 
The de László Archive Trust, 'The Catalogue Raisonné of Works by Philip de László (1869-1937) [online]', no.10076. 

Note: 
Mrs Wigan’s signature appears in the artist’s Sitters’ Book between those of two American sitters, David Luke [de László Archive Trust catalogue no.6103] on 3 June and Edith Hope Iselin, on 12 June. Three-years later on 26 November 1933, de László met the sitter and her husband at a dinner hosted by the Earl [no.6489] and Countess [no.6492] of Onslow at Clandon Park. He recalled: 'I painted her portrait some four years ago – she is still good looking & charming … it was a very delightful evening' (László, Philip de, 1933 diary, private collection, 26 November entry, p.25). 

Edith Wallace Russell was born in Dublin on 3 July 1867, daughter of The Right Honourable Sir Thomas Wallace Russell, 1st Baronet (1841-1920), MP, and his wife Harriet Wentworth Agnew (1841-1894). In April 1896 she married Leslie Lathom Gedge, a solicitor, at St George’s Hanover Square. There were two children of the marriage: Sydney (born 1897) and Montague (born 1899). In 1904 her husband died suddenly of heart failure, aged only thirty-four, at his offices in Great George Street, Westminster. She married Edward Wigan on 28 July 1921 at Holy Trinity, Brompton, as her second husband. She died in Devizes, Wiltshire, on 17 January 1942. Her husband died only four months later on 4 May the same year. The sitter is here shown half-length in three-quarter profile to the left, wearing a stole over her sleeveless evening dress, drop earrings and a pearl necklace. 

We are grateful to Katherine Field for writing the catalogue entry for this portrait, which will be included in the Philip de László catalogue raisonné, currently presented in progress online: www.delaszlocatalogueraisonne.com (no.10076).