Footnotes

Simon Albert Bussy first met Dorothy Strachey in 1901. Bussy, a French born painter who had studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under Gustave Moreau arrived in London that year. Bussy's introduction to the city's Bohemians came via William Rothenstein (who exhibited his work at his Carfax Gallery, see lot 13) and before long Bussy entered the peripheries of the Bloomsbury Group. Dorothy was one of ten children (five girls, five boys) born to Sir and Lady Strachey and was also close to the Bloomsbury circle through her brother Lytton. Dorothy's talents were literary; she would later publish (anonymously) the novel Olivia (1949) and also translated the works of French novelist André Gide to English.

In June of 1902 a lamp exploded in Bussy's studio seriously burning his face and hands and, most concerningly, threatened his sight. Following ten days in hospital he was discharged, and Lady Strachey offered that he may recover at the family home. There Dorothy cared for him throughout his recuperation. Soon after, she announced their engagement to the surprise, and in some quarters, disapproval of the family (Bussy was not a wealthy man). She wrote to Lytton;

Dearest Lyt,
Please give me your fraternal blessing. I am going to marry Simon Bussy. Most people I am afraid will think it exceedingly wild, but in reality it is an action of the highest wisdom. (vide Maeterlinck). We shall have 2d. a year but we will be very gay and sensible...

The match was granted, and the couple married at Paddington in 1903 (Dorothy was 37, Simon 33). They honeymooned in France and visited Roquebrune near Monaco. In spring the following year they set up a home there, Le Souco, which would soon become famous as an intellectual hub for the artistic and literary elite. Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant, Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf all came to stay there for long periods of time. The orange tree in the present work suggests it would have been painted at Le Souco, and the age of Dorothy would place it not long after their move. The pose and palette share a kinship with that of Bussy's close friend, Matisse.