In the 1960s, when I was still in primary (elementary) school, I lived with my Aunty Myra most school holidays. Aunty Myra was chatty, her sons were grown up, and I was the daughter she’d never had, so I was the recipient of hundreds of her stories.
One of those related to a painting that was hanging in the New South Wales Art Gallery. Among other things, she said it was of a girl sitting in a chair with her face resting in her hand, that it was a study in brown, and that the sitter, who was long dead, was related to us.
As a young adult I’d sometimes wander aimlessly through the gallery. Aunty Myra must have told me that it was in the Grand Court on the right as you entered the gallery, as that is where I would concentrate my search, but I never saw anything resembling her description.
Then, like a lot of Aunty Myra’s stories, I forgot about the painting.
The story moves forward to early 2016. I was heavily into family history research by then. I came across a tree on Ancestry.com that included my grandmother’s sister, Lucy. Lucy was married but in 1926 died young and childless, and we knew little else of her.
Turns out that Lucy’s husband re-married, and they had a daughter who was now in her late eighties! It was her granddaughter, JA, who was compiling the family history tree.
After a phone call between those two women, a story about a painting emerged, and along with it, a good description.
- Lucy’s husband used to call the painting ‘study in brown’, as it was all in brown tones. But grandmother didn’t think that was the name on the plaque.
- She’d seen it frequently in her childhood, up until it was taken off display in the early 40s (which accounts for why I couldn’t find it).
- The artist’s name was unknown, but he was not one of our “majors”.
- It was a realistic painting, the background was very dark, it was of her head and shoulders with the body turned away but her face looking toward the viewer.
- Lucy’s face was in a serious pose, she was not ‘pretty’ but her face was pleasant.
- She was clothed, her features fading into the background.
At that, Aunty Myra’s story came flooding back.
Game on!
Time to find the painting, learn who painted it, and hopefully, marry that back to great-aunt Lucy Elizabeth Osterman nee Creft.
More in the next post.
You’ve got the bit between your teeth! Good luck!
Thank you. And as see from the following posts, I was chewing hard on it!
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Well, luckily I see part 2 is already up – off to read it now!!!
You may recall it was you who encouraged me to write this story in the first place. Although you probably didn’t expect me to spin it out so!
😊 I do remember.
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Oooh intriguing!
Perhaps I should spin it out?
So I’m putting my money on you finding out about the painting otherwise you wouldn’t have started this post.
I can’t reveal whether or not it was successful at such an early stage. I could be writing about a lesson in frustration?
No you wouldn’t. You know. I betcha
I’m watching. I’m watching. You got me hooked, Gwen.
I like to keep everyone in suspenders – whoops! – I meant suspense.
Hurry up!
You know me JoJo – I never do anything the easy way if there is a hard way to go about it!
Looking forward to the next episode in this mystery, Gwen.
Thanks Barb, it’s going to be a looong story J
A mystery to solve. Will the gallery have a back-catalogue?
Yes, they do. Our first problem was to identify the painting, and then the artist. More in the next post 🙂
It’s funny how information tends to jump out from the most unexpected places.
Happens to me all the time. Sometimes I think there is a guiding hand at work 🙂 I’ve become very attached to great-aunt Lucy.
Can’t wait
Watch this space 🙂