Footnotes

Provenance
The Whitbread Collection
Private Collection, Austria

Exhibited
Probably London, Art Exhibitions Bureau, The Whitbread Collection: An Exhibition of Paintings, 1961

The painting entitled Aquarius by Anna Zinkeisen is a design for a zodiac calendar published in 1957 for the brewing company Whitbreads. A striking image in its own right, what is of particular interest is how this commission assists in highlighting aspects outwith the painted image, which help to place the artist in a wider context. The text accompanying the zodiac calendar (not visible in the original oil paintings, but included in the printed works) were penned by Jacintha Buddicom (1901-1993) together with Peter Fleming (1907-1971), the elder brother of the renowned creator of the fictional character James Bond, namely Ian Fleming (1908-1964). Jacintha Buddicom was an acquaintance of Anna Zinkeisen and is remembered today for her book Eric & Us: A Remembrance of George Orwell, a memoir published in 1974 about her childhood friendship with Eric Blair (1903-1950) before he became the famous writer George Orwell.

Noteworthy too is that Peter Fleming was married to the actress Celia Johnson (1908-1982), who is still remembered by film buffs today for her role in Brief Encounter (1945). The soundtrack to that film included the 2nd Piano Concerto by Sergei Rachmoninov (1873-1943) performed by a friend of Anna Zinkeisen, the legendary classical pianist Eileen Joyce (1908-1991), whose portrait Anna captured in around 1950. The screenplay for Brief Encounter was written by Noël Coward (1899-1973) with whom Anna Zinkeisen's sister Doris worked with in numerous stage productions as a costume and set designer. In 1952 Doris Zinkeisen painted a group portrait of the Whitbread family, scions of the brewing dynasty, before their home Southill Park, Biggleswade in Bedfordshire, which brings us back to the origins of the zodiac calendar and that commission from the brewers Whitbreads, which all goes to testify to the extraordinary circles the Zinkeisen sisters moved in.

We are grateful to Dr Philip Kelleway for compiling this catalogue entry.