Lot Essay
Boldini would have received this commission as a result of the sitter's great friendship with the Contessa Zichy (see lot 13), and the portrait is close in style and manner to the Contessa's, painted one year prior.
Mrs. John Howard-Johnston, née Dolly Baird of Dunbarton, had two children, Xenia and Clarence. After his death, Mrs. Howard-Johnston married Du Breuille de St. Germaine, and spent the remainder of her life in France. Xenia married a son of Countess Zichy, and Clarence Dinsmore Howard-Johnston married Paulette, the daughter of Boldini's great friend, Paul-César Helleu, in 1955
Boldini's friendship with Helleu began during the early 1880's. The two artists' world of feminine beauty was portrayed in a similar manner, yet their styles did not duplicate each other. One American critic noted the difference in their work. "As a matter of fact when a lady of fashion came to be painted by Boldini she did not impress her form upon him but served as the vehicle for a marvelous technician's coup. Before Helleu, and with a stroke that Helleu never achieved, he made feminine elegance a peg on which to hang miracles of artistic execution."
Their friendship can best be summarized by Emilia Cardona. "... He values the light of noon too much, whether he works in his studio or outdoors, whether he looks for new subjects while walking in the "Bois" with his two inseparable companions: Helleu and Sem... Seeing them always in the Bois de Boulogne, people sang a sort of refrain which began: "Boldini, Sem et Helleu -- s'en vont à la queue leu leu...".
We are grateful to Mme. Paulette Howard-Johnston for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Mrs. John Howard-Johnston, née Dolly Baird of Dunbarton, had two children, Xenia and Clarence. After his death, Mrs. Howard-Johnston married Du Breuille de St. Germaine, and spent the remainder of her life in France. Xenia married a son of Countess Zichy, and Clarence Dinsmore Howard-Johnston married Paulette, the daughter of Boldini's great friend, Paul-César Helleu, in 1955
Boldini's friendship with Helleu began during the early 1880's. The two artists' world of feminine beauty was portrayed in a similar manner, yet their styles did not duplicate each other. One American critic noted the difference in their work. "As a matter of fact when a lady of fashion came to be painted by Boldini she did not impress her form upon him but served as the vehicle for a marvelous technician's coup. Before Helleu, and with a stroke that Helleu never achieved, he made feminine elegance a peg on which to hang miracles of artistic execution."
Their friendship can best be summarized by Emilia Cardona. "... He values the light of noon too much, whether he works in his studio or outdoors, whether he looks for new subjects while walking in the "Bois" with his two inseparable companions: Helleu and Sem... Seeing them always in the Bois de Boulogne, people sang a sort of refrain which began: "Boldini, Sem et Helleu -- s'en vont à la queue leu leu...".
We are grateful to Mme. Paulette Howard-Johnston for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.