Sisters windham

On a two-meter canvas depicts the three daughters of an influential London politician and collector, Percy Wyndham - (from left to right) Madeline Adeyn (1869-1941), Pamela Tennant (1871-1928) and Mary Constance Elko (1862-1937) ^[2] . Percy Wyndham and his wife Madeline, friends with many artists, ordered a portrait of their daughters in the family home ^[3] . At the turn of the century, aristocrats feared that their class domination would gradually fade away due to the agricultural crisis, the growth of the democratic movement and meritocracy ; a magnificent portrait of the sisters was to be a confirmation of the power of the aristocracy and the continuity of the dynasty ^[3] . Sisters are depicted at the peak of their beauty, wealth and influence ^[3] .

In the depths of the sofa, on the right, there is an older sister, Mary Constance Elko (at the time she was about 30 years old) - a well-known representative of London secular society, the wife of the scandalous Lord Hugo Elko, a gambler and heir to Count Vemis. Due to the Lord's addiction to gambling, Mary and her children often needed money, and the family house stood idle ^[3] . Nevertheless, Mary Constance continued to hold high-profile social receptions there, which were sought by aristocrats and Cabinet members ^[3] . A famous fact was the novel of Mary Constance and Arthur Balfour , statesman, future 50th Prime Minister of Great Britain ^[3] .

On the left is the middle sister Madeline. Madeline was a modest and quiet girl, at the age of 19 she was married to a landowner from Cambridgeshire Charlie Adeina, whose family members were courtiers of Queen Victoria ^[3] . The mother of the sisters believed that Adain, who was not famous for wealth, was not a suitable party for her daughter, however, Madeline's marriage was happy, unlike her sisters. The marriage was marred by the death of a newborn son. Madeline and her wife had only daughters, and the long-awaited heir was born on the 24th week and lived only 12 hours ^[3] . The sadness of a woman suffering from a terrible loss was also reflected in the work of Sargent (five years later, the couple still had a son) ^[3] .

Pamela Tennant, a spoiled younger sister, sits in the center, and looks imperiously at the viewer ^[3] . Unlike her older sister, Pamela despised secular society and preferred the company of her children, rural life in Wiltshire in the south-west of England and writing ^[3] . However, at the same time, Pamela had a sharp and hot-tempered character and often broke down on her long-suffering wife Eddie Tennant ^[3] . It is known that Pamela had an affair with her husband’s friend, politician Edward Gray , then deputy foreign minister ^[3] .

John Sargent portrayed the sisters in the living room of the Wyndham family residence in Belgrave Square in London. Girls are on the couch in dresses made of white organza, taffeta and tulle ^[3] . On the wall against a darkened background is a portrait of the mother of the sisters among the sunflowers by George Frederick Watts , reflecting both the genealogy of the heroines and the connection of Sargent himself with artists of the past ^[2] .

In 1900, the work was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts , where it received rave reviews from critics. ^[2] Many of the exhibition visitors at the academy knew the sisters and the scandals associated with them ^[3] . The wealth of the Wyndham family could not save them from the consequences of the First World War . In 1924, the nephew of the sisters Dick Wyndham in the conditions of impoverishment of the aristocracy in order to maintain a familiar rich lifestyle, began to sell paintings. The portrait of the Wyndham sisters was sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1927, where it remains to this day. As Dick said to his aunts, it was “an alternative to keeping a picture in a house where neither I nor any heirs can ever live” ^[3] .