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451

The Hon. Marion Saumarez (1885-1978) Portrait of Ellen Griffiths, Madame Breakwell, oil on canvas, 9

Currency:GBP Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA
The Hon. Marion Saumarez (1885-1978) Portrait of Ellen Griffiths, Madame Breakwell, oil on canvas, 9
The Hon. Marion Saumarez (1885-1978) Portrait of Ellen Griffiths, Madame Breakwell, oil on canvas, 90 x 71cm Bears old label on the reverse "Portrait of Madame Breakwell, lent by Miss Marion Saumarez, Orion Cottage, Grantchester". Ellen Griffiths was an American, living in Paris, and studying painting at the Academie Julian. She married an Englishman, Mr Breakwell, whom she met on board ship going back to America. Mr Breakwell intended to enter the Church, but he, too, became an artist, and his paintings were hung in the Paris Salon. During the 1914-1918 War, he was interned in Switzerland, where his personality changed. He met an Austrian girl, whom he courted, but did not disclose to her that he was a married man. When the War ended, Mr Breakwell returned to his wife, and the Austrian girl followed him home, only to discover that he was married. Tragically, she shot herself on the train, and later Mr Breakwell divorced his wife, Ellen. Madame Breakwell was a fellow student of Marion Saumarez in Paris. Provenance: Given by the Hon. Marion Saumarez to Papworth Hall, Papworth Everard, Cambridgeshire, and by descent £800-1,200
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