Sir John Lavery, R.A., R.S.A., R.H.A. (1856-1941)

For Lavery, the portrait of David Lloyd George constituted unfinished business dating back some thirteen years. When he was working on the Irish Treaty suite of portraits to be donated to the Hugh Lane Gallery, the Prime Minister had refused to sit - claiming a diary filled with affairs of state. In 1934, long out of office and dictating his war memories, Lloyd George was more amenable and Lavery set off to his home at Churt, near Farnham in Surrey. There he painted four portrait studies and two interiors. One, showing Lloyd George and his secretary, Frances Stevenson, is contained in the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, New Brunswick. In the present version, the subject sits alone and Miss Stevenson's place is taken by a large vase of delphiniums. Lavery recalled that he had 'the double advantage of catching him in a characteristic pose and not feeling that [he] was encroaching too much on his time'. Nevertheless, the painter remained somewhat wary of the 'great charm' of the old Liberal leader - wryly recalling, 'he settled the Irish question (more or less)'.

K.M.