Simon Bussy, 
French/British 1870-1954 -
Portrait of a Lady (likely Pernel Strachey (1876-1951),...

Simon Bussy, 
French/British 1870-1954 -

Portrait of a Lady (likely Pernel Strachey (1876-1951), c.1899;

oil on hessian, 61 x 40 cm

Provenance:
Private Collection and thence by descent

Note:
Pernel Strachey was the artist's sister-in-law and photographs of her likeness can be found in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London, such as NPG x13083 and NPG x88546. She would stay with Bussy in his home in Rocquebrune and there is a portrait of her by Henry Lamb in the collection of Newnham College, Cambridge. Bussy married into the Strachey family through his wife, Dorothy Strachey, in 1903. It was through Pernel, who was studying in Paris at the time, that Dorothy Strachey and Simon Bussy first met in 1899. The family were central to the Bloomsbury group, in particular Dorothy's brother Lytton Strachey, who married Dora Carrington and was close friends with Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. It was previously thought that this work was a portrait of Elinor Rendel (née Strachey), NPG x13105.

It is likely that the painting dates to when Bussy and Pernel first met, when both artist and sitter were in France. The luminous green backdrop is characteristic of Bussy's work, including the similarly composed 'Lady Strachey, c.1905' now in the Tate Collection. Another similar work, 'Dorothy Strachey seated on a Chaise-longue, 1902' now in the Ashmolean Museum, affirms the dating of this work to this 1902-05 period. The style of the Rowley Gallery label suggests it was framed around 1912-16. 

Bussy was trained in the studio of Gustave Moreau in Paris and held his first solo exhibition at Durand-Ruel in 1897, which was an alternate plan after an exhibition with Matisse, Evenepoel and Martel at Galerie Georges Petit fell through. Matisse was a close friend throughout Bussy's life. 

With thanks to James Beechey for his assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.