Florence Adelina Hess WIAC (1891-1974)
Mother and child in a sun-drenched garden, Hillside, Runswick Bay
Signed and dated 1917, oil on canvas, 59.5cm by 49.5cm

Provenance: Doris Bilbrough (née Sykes), cook to the Hess household, early 20th century - c. 1930s
Thence by descent

This vibrant rendition shows a quiet moment between a mother seated on a garden bench and her young daughter who presents to her one of the red flowers, which dot the garden around the foreground of the composition. The garden that is represented is that which belongs to the property Hillside, in Runswick Bay, and which was Mark Senior's North Yorkshire home at the time. It has been suggested that the little girl in the painting is a member of the Senior family, Margaret Hudson (born 1914) and that the adult woman conveyed in the sensitive exchange is most probably her mother, Mary Vere Hudson (née Senior), Mark Senior's eldest daughter. The house, which is glimpsed on the left, is Rose Cottage. Hillside, which is out of view, was interestingly built the year this picture was painted. The two photographs illustrated show Mark Senior standing in front of and Florence Hess seated on the bench within the same spot depicted in the painting presented here.

The painting of mother and child shows the upper part of the larger garden, which was originally part of Rose Cottage next door, and which was owned by the artist Gertrude Hudson (1878-1958). Hudson was also a pupil of Mark Senior, her brother, Robert Hudson, married Senior's eldest daughter, Mary Vere. The Hudsons were successful engineers from Leeds, with interest in South Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

We are grateful to Andrew Clay, Great-Great-Grandson of the artist Mark Senior, for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.