Augustus John, O.M., R.A. (1878-1961)

Born in 1912, Poppet was the second daughter of Augustus and Dorelia John. They originally called her Elizabeth Ann or Lizzie but she was nicknamed Poppet when one of her half-brothers Caspar, after gazing at her for sometime, remarked, 'What a little poppet!'

The sitter recalled how she was often required to pose for her father, 'if I caught his eye he would ask me very politely to come and pose for him, and this would mean the whole morning gone ... all our plans for swimming at Bicton or riding in the forest' (see M. Holroyd, Augustus John, London, 1996, pp. 536-7).