Hazel Lavery - Other Portraits

Other Portraits

Lady Lavery sat for more than 400 portraits by Sir John. Many were similarly named, leading an expert to remark that "Hazel in..." is virtually a Lavery trademark.

In 1923, Time magazine noteded that

Sir John Lavery's much-clawed-over portrait of Lady Lavery (TIME, Aug. 13) has found a resting-place. Lady Cunard, who held that Artist Lavery had been "insulted" when her offer to present the portrait to the Tate Gallery was rejected, has given it to the Guildhall Gallery, London.

Lavery's biographer described "Hazel in rose and grey" and "One of the nicest of Lavery's "Hazel in" pictures. For once he abandons the full-length format and the composition gains a more curvy, dynamic appearance. Hazel, profiled by what photographers call a hair light, wears a wispy dress the colour of faded hydrangeas".

Another well-known portrait of Hazel Lavery painted by her husband is known as "The Red Rose" (1923). As one expert describes, this painting has a complicated history:

Her well known face and the characteristic red, purple and gold colour harmonies make The Red Rose immediately recognizable as a portrait of her. However, the canvas was begun in 1892 as a portrait of Mrs William Burrell. In 1912 it was transformed into a portrait of Sarah Bernhardt, and in the early twenties it was, for a brief period, a portrait of Viscountess Curzon.