Portrait of Madame Valière

Mrs. Helen Carew (d. 1951), by October 15, 1951 [1];

Purchased from her posthumous sale, Objects of Art and Vertu: Fine Gold Watches and Boxes and Miniatures, Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, October 15, 1951, lot 16, as Madame Valière, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1951–August 7, 1958 [2];

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.

Notes

[1] “Mrs. Carew gave from the Farquhar Matheson Collection twenty-five snuff-boxes in gold, enamel, and other materials, and a group of objects of silversmiths’ work,” according to Victoria and Albert Museum, Review of the Principal Acquisitions During the Year (London: H.M. Stationary Office, 1920), 57. Basil Long mentions a Carew in an article on Richard Crosse: “The largest existing collections of miniatures by Richard Crosse are probably those belonging to the Rev. W. E. Crosse Cross and Mr. Charles Robert Sydenham Carew. The latter inherited his collection from the late Rev. Robert Baker Carew, of Collipriest, near Tiverton. . . . The remainder of Mr. Charles Carew’s collection, including numerous miniatures by Crosse and a full-length portrait of a Miss Crosse, is at Collipriest.” Basil Long, “Richard Crosse, Miniaturist and Portrait-Painter,” The Volume of the Walpole Society 17 (1928): 65. Charles Robert Sydenham Carew (1853–1939) married Muriel Mary, who died in 1939. None of his siblings were named Helen or married a Helen, and none died in 1950 or 1951. Another Helen Carew (née Wyllie) was close friends with author Oscar Wilde, but died in 1928 at the age of 72. With thanks to Maggie Keenan for her research on Helen Carew.

[2] The lot is described in the sales catalogue as “Portrait of Madame Valière, by C. Charlé [sic], wearing mauve scarf and long gauze veil in her hair, oval, 2 1/4 in. high.” Another miniature in the same lot is also in the Nelson-Atkins collection (Workshop of André Léon Larue, called Mansion, Portrait of General Jean Victor Marie Moreau, F58-60/3). An annotated catalogue for this sale is located at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Miller Nichols Library. The annotations are most likely by Mr. or Mrs. Starr. Lot 16 is circled twice, in blue pen and pencil. Archival research has shown that Leggatt Brothers served as purchasing agents for the Starrs. See correspondence between Betty Hogg and Martha Jane Starr, May 15 and June 3, 1950, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.