Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

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Devonshire Daisy

Titles

Only one title is known:

  • 'Devonshire Daisy' (1895, Whistler). 1
  • 'Devonshire Daisy' (1980, YMSM). 2

The title is misleading because Lyme Regis is in Dorset not Devonshire.

Description

Unknown.

Sitter

Ada Annie Govier (1885-1973) was the daughter of Samuel Edward Govier (1857-1934) (who posed for The Master Smith of Lyme Regis [YMSM 450]).

She is said to have posed for a portrait Whistler called 'Devonshire Daisy' and as a reward he gave her a gold bracelet set with an amethyst. A novelist, the late Leonard Louis Levinson (1904-1974), interviewed the sitter (Mrs Case) in 1967 but she was unable to identify her portrait from the photographs he showed her. She married Albert George Case (1884-1976). She died in March 1973 at the age of 87. Her youngest grand-daughter, Stephanie Case, inherited the bracelet Whistler had given Ada as a reward for posing. 3

Comments


                    The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston MFA
The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston MFA

Few portraits survive from this period, the most notable being The Little Rose of Lyme Regis [YMSM 449], illustrated above.

Notes:

1: Information from L. L. Levinson, 1967, GUL WPP.

2: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 446).

3: Information from L. L. Levinson, 1967, GUL WPP.

Last updated: 28th October 2019 by Margaret