Sir William Nicholson (1872-1949)

The subject is the artist’s 18-year old daughter, the designer Nancy Nicholson, in her uniform as a member of the Women’s Land Army. She was very proud of her uniform and of her work. In January 1918 she married the soldier-poet Robert Graves, and they departed for their honeymoon both in uniform. Nicholson probably executed the sketch around this date as he came to terms with the fact that his daughter was now a married woman.

The figure is based on a 1917 studio photograph by Malcolm Arbuthnot of Nancy and her dog that is reproduced in A. Nicholson (ed.), William Nicholson, Painter: Paintings, Woodcuts, Writings, Photographs, London, 1996, p. 159. In his sketch Nicholson has substituted two greyhounds for Nancy’s favourite. They recall an earlier work Hawking, 1902, which includes greyhounds, and also Nancy’s brother Ben. An associated work is a gouache, La Dame des lévriers, 1901 - see P. Reed, William Nicholson: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, London, 2011, pp. 76-7, fig. 64, illustrated.

Nicholson very rarely did preliminary sketches for his portraits and it is unlikely that he intended a portrait of his daughter based on Arbuthnot’s photograph.

We are very grateful to Patricia Reed for preparing this catalogue entry.