| Description | A small series of letters from Alma-Tadema to Marion Tattershall, a professional model who posed for him for numerous paintings including 'Bacchante' of 1907, 'The Golden Hour' of 1908 and 'Summer Offering 'of 1911. The letters relate to the arrangement of sittings, which appear to have been a regular occurrence on Thursdays and to the painting of portraits.
Marion Tattershall's name appears in the register of models employed by the Royal Academy to pose in the life drawing schools and there is a reference to her attendance at the Royal Academy schools . It has been said that her bright red hair and Saxon features appealed to Alma-Tadema whose wife Laura also had auburn hair.
These letters were acquired together, evidenced by the hole punches in all of the letters; they were originally part of a collection of drawings, etchings, watercolours by the artist, John Cameron, which includes numerous drawings and photographs of Marion Tattershall., a copy of the marriage certificate of Marion Tattershall and Nicholas Faberge, the death certificate of Nicholas Faberge issued in Paris 1939 and a miscellaneous collection of newspaper and magazine cuttings relating to the Faberge family (see MS740) |