The Laurel Wreath

Although never divorced from his first wife (the marriage only lasted three days), the actress Mary Emma Jones became Sandys' common-law wife (see lot 18). She gave birth to a large number of children, ten of whom survived to adulthood and nine of whom were girls. His daughters inherited their mother's looks and luxuriant hair and became models for his later works. The sitter for the present drawing was Gertrude ('Girlie'), Sandys' youngest daughter, who would have been about sixteen. Aged about six or seven she is the model for My Lady Greensleeves (op.cit., no. 5.8, pl. 68) and Wondertime (1900, op.cit., no. 5.40) and The Red Cap (op.cit., 5.42). Gertrude blossomed into a great beauty and married Walter Crane's son, Lionel in 1913.