
Thomas Seaman
Specialist, Head of Sale
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Sold for £6,000 inc. premium
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Specialist, Head of Sale
Provenance
Private collection, UK.
The present lot is a portrait of Christiana Blanche Ashworth Macdonald, known as Lily. Her mother, Eleanor Montague Morris, was the daughter of a London solicitor. Eleanor's first husband was William Stanford the younger of Preston Manor, Brighton. A year after his death in 1853, Eleanor married Captain George Varnham Macdonald and the couple had three daughters Flora (1857) and later twins Diana and Lily (1866). Lily lived at Preston Manner until her half-sister Ellen Thomas-Stanford took residence in 1905. Lily was engaged twice, however never married. The 1911 census shows Lily living in London by private means.
There is little public knowledge of Lily's life, however, she is believed to have had interactions with ghosts at Preston Manor. She was involved in a famous séance on the 11 November 1896, attended also by Douglas Murray, who presented the findings to the Ghost Club members at their meeting in 1897.
Lily died in 1947 and is buried at the St Peter Preston Park's Church, Brighton.
John William Schofield is known for his painted portraits, landscape and figurative subjects. He studied at the Westminster School of Art and exhibited fourteen paintings at the Royal Academy.