Gwen Raverat, 1954

Gwen Raverat (1885–1957) was a celebrated author, wood engraver and book illustrator. The granddaughter of Charles Darwin, she trained at the Slade School of Art (1908–11). In 1911 she married the French painter Jacques Raverat, with whom she joined the Bloomsbury Group and Rupert Brooke’s Neo-Pagans. After moving to Vence, following Jacques’ death (1925) she returned to Cambridge, where she had spent her childhood. In 1952 she published the memoir Period Piece which became a best-seller.

Vellacott first met Raverat in 1934, when they were both involved in the Cambridge University Music Society production of Handel’s oratorio Jephta, and they became close friends. This intimate portrait captures the closeness of artist and sitter, which is highlighted by Vellacott’s frankness in showing the signs of the paralysis that affected the left side of Raverat’s body following a stroke she had suffered in 1951.

Provenance: gift of Polly Hill (Humphries) to H.S. (Jim) Ede, 1965