Marion Harry Spielmann

1 portrait

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Marion Harry Spielmann

by John Henry Frederick Bacon
oil on canvas, 1904
24 in. x 20 in. (610 mm x 508 mm)
Given by wish of the sitter's son, Percy Edwin Spielmann, 1964
Primary Collection
NPG 4352

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

This portraitback to top

This portrait was cut down, at an unknown date before entering into the Collection of the National Portrait Gallery, from a whole length painting showing Spielmann at his desk, surrounded by books and portfolios. The painter H.J. Thaddeus's description of Spielmann was:'Youthful and frail in appearance, his pallid countenance was illuminated by the most remarkable eyes, black and lustrous, that I have ever seen. They literally danced with life, alertness and intelligence, riveting your attention with a mesmeric attraction'.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Royal Academy of Arts, The exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, 1904, 1904 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 1904), p. number 473
  • Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Academy pictures, 1904, 1904, p. 63
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 581

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1904back to top

Current affairs

Britain and France sign the Entente Cordiale, an agreement which resolves a number of longstanding colonial disputes (including a Declaration respecting Egypt and Morocco), signalling growing anxiety about the risk of future German aggression. Although not militarily binding, the agreement, negotiated between French foreign minister Théophile Delcassé, and Lord Lansdowne, the British Foreign Secretary, establishes a diplomatic understanding between the two countries.

Art and science

J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan is first performed at the Duke of York's Theatre in London. Charting the fantastical adventures of Peter, 'the boy who never grew up', the Darling children and the villainous Captain Hook in Neverland, many adaptations have been made of the story.
The painter Gwen John settles in Paris, where she becomes the lover and model of the sculptor Auguste Rodin, modelling for his sculpture Muse.

International

Japan attacks the Russian Navy at Port Arthur, sparking the Russo-Japanese war. Hostility was prompted by the rival imperialist ambitions of the Russian and Japanese empires in Manchuria, North East China, and Korea, considered by Japan to be an essential buffer against colonisation by Western Powers. Japan wins a series of victories against Russia which transforms the balance of power in East Asia, and undermines the Tsar's rule in Russia.

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