Palm Springs, 1938. Doris Delevingne — the Viscountess Castlerosse — poolside in silk and California sun. Lavery was eighty-two years old. He painted her anyway.
Viscountess, Palm Springs is one of Lavery's final masterworks — a portrait of pure 1930s glamour painted with the confidence of an artist who had spent sixty years learning exactly how to capture light on a figure. The Viscountess sits poolside, unhurried, luminous, entirely aware of being looked at and entirely unbothered by it. Lavery met her in the social circles that had occupied his career for decades; this is how he chose to remember her.
It is a painting about elegance that has nothing to prove, which is the only kind worth having.
Sir John Lavery (1856–1941) was born in Belfast, trained in Glasgow and Paris, and became one of the most celebrated society painters of his era. His work is held in the National Gallery of Ireland, the Tate, and major collections worldwide.
Archival giclée print on 250gsm fine-art matte paper. Printed to order. Free worldwide shipping.
