Sir William Russell Flint, R.A., P.R.W.S.

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 8 November 1989, lot 213;

With Richard Green, London;

Where acquired by a private collector;

By whom sold, London, Sotheby's, 18 September 2019, lot 56;

Where purchased by the present owner.

Olearia depicts Flint's most celebrated model Cecilia Green (1931–2003), the beautiful and intelligent young woman that appears in many of his greatest pictures from 1953 when she was first introduced to the artist. Cecilia's parents were Russian Jews who fled Kiev shortly before the revolution and settled in the east end of London where she spent a childhood marred by the war and long periods of ill-health. Despite her childhood frailty she grew into a determined, confident and strikingly handsome young woman who wanted nothing more than to dance professionally. After a period at dance school she became a member of the London Festival Ballet and attended modelling classes at the London Camera Club. When a childhood ailment recurred and halted her dancing career she decided to become a professional artist's model. From the moment that Flint first saw Cecilia he knew that he had found the model that he had always wanted to paint, a woman who embodied his ideal of feminine beauty. Despite his obvious attraction to her, the relationship between Cecilia and Flint was purely professional and she regarded him as a kindly uncle. She continued to model for Flint until the mid 1960s when she married the art consultant John Simmons and became a model for various advertising campaigns. Her departure from Flint's life left him distraught and he did not mention her once in his autobiography despite the important role she played in his art. Cecilia never spoke of Flint with anything other than a deep regard and affection for a man who treated her gently and paternally. The composition was made into a print, entitled Model For Elegance.