John William Godward R.B.A. (British, 1861-1922)
Portrait of Mary Perkinton Godward, the artist’s grandmother (d. 1866)

watercolour/gouache on paper
Unframed: 11 x 8.5 cm. (4 1/4 x 3 3/8 in.) Framed: 29.3 x 26 cm. (11 5/8 x 10 1/4 in.)

Sale; Christie’s, London, 18 November 2009, lot 90, where purchased by the present owner
Private Collection, London

Literature:
Vern G. Swanson, John William Godward : The Eclipse of Classicism, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1997. p.22

John William Godward belonged to the second generation of Victorian Aestheticist painters who followed in the footsteps of Lord Frederic Leighton and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

The present lot, a portrait of Godward's grandmother, is the earliest known work by the artist.