Sir Oswald Birley was a distinguished royal portraitist whose notable commissions included traveling round the princely Indian states depicting the maharajahs in all their state. He married the ravishing Irish beauty Rhoda Pike, and was the father of the fabulous Maxime de la Falaise, grandfather of Saint Laurenssually psychological portrait of the thirteen year old Barbara Hutton depicts her as the quintessential Poor Little Rich Girl - all dressed up in her velvet and lace and pearls (and even encased in a splendid Louis XIV frame), she nevertheless has a wistful look that seems to foreshadow her strange, poignant life. Hamish Bowles