PORTRAIT OF TRAGIC GIRL ADOPTED BY ONLY SURVIVING SON OF POET PERCY BYSSE SHELLY FOR SALE AT BONHAMS Our Coverage Sponsored by Maine Woolens
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A LIFE THAT MIGHT HAVE MADE A DARK POEM
A charming portrait of the lovely Bessie Florence 'Floss' Scarlett née Gibson (1851-1934), by Reginald Easton (British, 1807-1893), does not give any sense of the many tragedies that would befall her.
This watercolour of ‘Floss’, painted on ivory gilt-mounted on a rectangular velvet frame, is estimated to sell for £3,000 - 4,000 at Bonhams sale of Fine Portrait Miniatures on November 19th in Knightsbridge.
In the portrait, she stands before a sandy beach, wearing fawn dress over white chemise, her light brown hair upswept beneath a brown shearling hat set with a diamond brooch, holding a cane in her left hand.
Upon the death of her mother, 'Floss' was adopted by her paternal aunt, Jane Gibson, and Gibson's husband, Sir Percy Florence Shelley, 3rd Bt. (1819-1889). The couple had no children of their own. Shelley was the only surviving child of the Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his novelist second wife, Mary Shelley née Wollstonecraft Godwin (1797-1851). ‘Floss’ was raised predominantly at Boscombe Manor on the Dorset coast, and the present lot is likely to have been painted close to this location.
On 16 February 1871, Floss married Lieutenant Colonel Leopold James Yorke Campbell Scarlett (1847-1888) of the Scots Guards. The couple had six sons and one daughter. Floss encountered considerable heartbreak during her adult life, outliving her husband and four of their children. Their youngest, Leopold, was lost at sea aboard an Australian submarine in 1914, aged twenty-five. Floss was four months pregnant with him when her husband died. Sir Percy Shelley died the following year.
Floss lived in many homes during her lifetime and visited Boscombe Manor frequently until it was sold in 1911. Her final years were spent in slight isolation at Penenden House, in Boxley near Maidstone. Her daughter, Ruth, and sons, Hugh, 7th Baron Abinger (1878-1943), and Percy (1885-1957), survived her.
The portrait was inherited by Floss’s only daughter, the Hon. Ruth Hester Frances Scarlett (1882-1943), and thereafter by descent.
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world’s largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street and Knightsbridge; and a further three in the UK regions and Scotland. Sales are also held in
San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Connecticut in the USA; and Germany, France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Australia. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 60 specialist areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments go to www.bonhams.com.
