43
GOTTFRIED LINDAUER - Miriam Partridge
Estimate:
$100,000 - $150,000
Starting Bid:
$60,000
Live Auction
Important & Rare Art
Size
64.5 x 51 cm
Description
Oil on canvas
Condition
To request a condition report, please contact us at auctions@artcntr.co.nz or phone +64 9 379 4010
Provenance
From the Collection of Henry & Miriam Partridge by descent
Acquired directly from the artist
Acquired directly from the artist
Literature
The sitter for this portrait, Miriam Antoinette Partridge (1853 - 1931), was the first of two daughters born to Thomas Odlum (1806-1863) and his second wife, Elizabeth Grace Odlum (neé Piper) (1814-1890) who came to Auckland in 1847. Born in 1853, Miriam Antoinette Odlum was the penultimate child of her parents’ union. She was followed the next year by another daughter, Lucette Letitia Odlum.
In November 1868, Miriam met 20-year-old Henry Edward Partridge in Auckland. He had arrived from England to work the Otago goldfields in 1867, and after suffering serious frostbite, travelled south to Thames. Henry and Elizabeth married on 2 August 1870, and the groom brought his new bride to the house that he had built on the Moanataiari Creek near Thames. While living there, he met James Mackay, the government’s agent in the Waikato, and accompanied him to Māori settlements, as his enthusiasm for Māori culture developed. At the age of 18, in 1871, Miriam had her first child, a daughter. Two years later, Henry moved the family to Auckland where he opened a successful tobacconist’s shop (which also sold sporting goods) at 204 Queen Street. Miriam and Henry were to have eight more children, two of whom died in infancy.
In Auckland, Henry Partridge met Gottfried Lindauer, who had arrived in the city in 1875. He commissioned the artist to make many portraits of famous Māori subjects over the next thirty years. Lindauer had studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, and after mandatory service in the Austrian army, attended the 1873 World’s Fair in Vienna. There he saw Māori weaving, carving and moko on display and decided to emigrate to New Zealand. He was technically adept and innovative: research has shown that to paint many of his New Zealand oil portraits, he projected a photographic image onto the canvas using an epidiascope, tracing around the outlines in pencil. In this way, he achieved a speaking likeness, using oil colour to fill in the contours and bring the pencil lines to life. His skills enabled him to capture the creamy texture of Miriam’s porcelain complexion, and her direct gaze.
By 1890, Mr and Mrs H.E. Partridge were living in Aropiri (which means to cling, or be attached), a grand, two-and-a-half storey, 16 roomed house at 50 Grafton Road, where their portraits by Lindauer were displayed side by side. The painting of Henry (which has not been found) may have been half-length to match his wife, and perhaps facing to the right so that they could be hung as a pair. Lindauer’s portrait shows Miriam as a handsome young woman in her late twenties or early thirties, soberly dressed, and with a serious demeanour. She is beautifully groomed, with a black velvet jacket buttoned over a high-collared gown. Matching gold brooch and earrings indicates the family’s prosperity. Her last child, Colleen Joan Conradine Mary Partridge, was born in 1894, when Miriam was 41. Miriam advertised for household help periodically in the newspapers between 1906 and 1916 and had a nanny since she is recorded travelling to and from Dunedin, Australia and Wellington with her husband. The grand house was the centre of her life and the setting for social events. When her youngest daughter married in 1916, the wedding took place at Aropiri, as did Henry and Miriam’s diamond wedding celebration in 1930.
Mrs H.E. Partridge is recorded as supporting the war effort during World War One. Her production of 20 pairs of knitted socks for the Auckland contingent was praised in the New Zealand Herald and she also donated 7 leather waistcoats to the winter campaign in 1915. Mentions in the social pages of the newspaper give an indication of her lifestyle and suggest a preference for wearing green, perhaps in recognition of her Irish heritage. She hosted a farewell tea for a Mrs Boyle and her daughter when they set sail for a trip to the United States and at the Empire Ball for the Victoria league in 1929, wore a dress of sedge green velvet. At the opening of an exhibition at the Auckland Society of Arts in the Kitchener Street Hall the same year, her dress was again green, embossed in gold chenille. At the Empire Ball the following year she wore sage green georgette and silver.
Miriam Antoinette Partridge died on 23 May 1931, aged 78, having led a quiet, retiring life and been in failing health for some months according to her obituary. She left an estate (which included British Tobacco and Bank of New South Wales shares) valued at £23,330-3-11, equivalent to over $3 million today. Four months later, her husband Henry Edward Partridge also died, aged 83.
LINDA TYLER
In November 1868, Miriam met 20-year-old Henry Edward Partridge in Auckland. He had arrived from England to work the Otago goldfields in 1867, and after suffering serious frostbite, travelled south to Thames. Henry and Elizabeth married on 2 August 1870, and the groom brought his new bride to the house that he had built on the Moanataiari Creek near Thames. While living there, he met James Mackay, the government’s agent in the Waikato, and accompanied him to Māori settlements, as his enthusiasm for Māori culture developed. At the age of 18, in 1871, Miriam had her first child, a daughter. Two years later, Henry moved the family to Auckland where he opened a successful tobacconist’s shop (which also sold sporting goods) at 204 Queen Street. Miriam and Henry were to have eight more children, two of whom died in infancy.
In Auckland, Henry Partridge met Gottfried Lindauer, who had arrived in the city in 1875. He commissioned the artist to make many portraits of famous Māori subjects over the next thirty years. Lindauer had studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, and after mandatory service in the Austrian army, attended the 1873 World’s Fair in Vienna. There he saw Māori weaving, carving and moko on display and decided to emigrate to New Zealand. He was technically adept and innovative: research has shown that to paint many of his New Zealand oil portraits, he projected a photographic image onto the canvas using an epidiascope, tracing around the outlines in pencil. In this way, he achieved a speaking likeness, using oil colour to fill in the contours and bring the pencil lines to life. His skills enabled him to capture the creamy texture of Miriam’s porcelain complexion, and her direct gaze.
By 1890, Mr and Mrs H.E. Partridge were living in Aropiri (which means to cling, or be attached), a grand, two-and-a-half storey, 16 roomed house at 50 Grafton Road, where their portraits by Lindauer were displayed side by side. The painting of Henry (which has not been found) may have been half-length to match his wife, and perhaps facing to the right so that they could be hung as a pair. Lindauer’s portrait shows Miriam as a handsome young woman in her late twenties or early thirties, soberly dressed, and with a serious demeanour. She is beautifully groomed, with a black velvet jacket buttoned over a high-collared gown. Matching gold brooch and earrings indicates the family’s prosperity. Her last child, Colleen Joan Conradine Mary Partridge, was born in 1894, when Miriam was 41. Miriam advertised for household help periodically in the newspapers between 1906 and 1916 and had a nanny since she is recorded travelling to and from Dunedin, Australia and Wellington with her husband. The grand house was the centre of her life and the setting for social events. When her youngest daughter married in 1916, the wedding took place at Aropiri, as did Henry and Miriam’s diamond wedding celebration in 1930.
Mrs H.E. Partridge is recorded as supporting the war effort during World War One. Her production of 20 pairs of knitted socks for the Auckland contingent was praised in the New Zealand Herald and she also donated 7 leather waistcoats to the winter campaign in 1915. Mentions in the social pages of the newspaper give an indication of her lifestyle and suggest a preference for wearing green, perhaps in recognition of her Irish heritage. She hosted a farewell tea for a Mrs Boyle and her daughter when they set sail for a trip to the United States and at the Empire Ball for the Victoria league in 1929, wore a dress of sedge green velvet. At the opening of an exhibition at the Auckland Society of Arts in the Kitchener Street Hall the same year, her dress was again green, embossed in gold chenille. At the Empire Ball the following year she wore sage green georgette and silver.
Miriam Antoinette Partridge died on 23 May 1931, aged 78, having led a quiet, retiring life and been in failing health for some months according to her obituary. She left an estate (which included British Tobacco and Bank of New South Wales shares) valued at £23,330-3-11, equivalent to over $3 million today. Four months later, her husband Henry Edward Partridge also died, aged 83.
LINDA TYLER
Exhibited
The Māori Portraits: Gottfried Lindauer’s New Zealand, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki 22 October 2016 - 9 February 2017
