Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings Signed (lower right): Sickert-
Gallery Label This is one of a group of six pictures that Sickert painted of two Belgians, Jeanne and Hélène Daurmont, during the Easter holiday in 1906. Jeanne, a milliner, later recalled that she and her sister, a charwoman, had met the artist in London when he overheard them speaking to a policeman in French. The subdued palette, softly smudged outlines, and direct approach to the model anticipate the artist's later Camden Town style, for which he is best known. At Easter time 1906 Sickert sent his friend Mrs. George Swinton several postcards with sketches of paintings he was working on. One of them depicts this picture and is inscribed: Easter Monday No.1. Jeanne (Private collection).
Provenance the artist, London (1906–9; sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 21, 1909, no. 62, as "La cigarette"); J. W. Freshfield, London (in 1939); R. Thesiger (until 1950); [Arthur Tooth & Sons, London, 1950; sold in July to Astor]; Mrs. Vincent Astor, later Mrs. James W. (Mary Cushing) Fosburgh, New York (1950–d. 1978)
Exhibition History Paris. Bernheim-Jeune. "Exposition Sickert," January 10–19, 1907, no. 81.
Adelaide. National Art Gallery of South Australia. "Exhibition of French and British Contemporary Art," August 21–September 17, 1939, no. 195.
Melbourne. Town Hall. "Exhibition of French and British Contemporary Art," October 16–November 1, 1939, no. 195.
Sydney. David Jones's Art Gallery. "Exhibition of French and British Contemporary Art," November 20–December 16, 1939, no. 195.
Brisbane. Queensland Art Gallery. August 15–October 15?, 1945, no catalogue.
Hobart. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. April 10–29, 1945, no catalogue.
Launceston Art Gallery. May 24–June 7, 1945, no catalogue.
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture Collected by Yale Alumni," May 19–June 26, 1960, no. 125.
Washington. Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building. "Selections from a Special Collection," September 19–October 26, 1984, no. 28.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Sickert: Paintings," November 20, 1992–February 14, 1993, no. 51.
Amsterdam. Van Gogh Museum. "Sickert: Paintings," February 25–May 31, 1993, no. 51.
References Catalogue of the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. James Fosburgh . 1955, p. 78. Wendy Baron. Sickert . London, 1973, pp. 87, 89, 182, 339, no. 221, fig. 155. Wendy Baron in Wendy Baron and Malcolm Cormack. The Camden Town Group . Exh. cat., Yale Center for British Art. New Haven, 1980, p. 54. Wendy Baron. Letter to Lucy Oakley . May 4, 1980. Wendy Baron in Sickert: Paintings . Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1992, pp. 41, 170, 172–73, no. 51, ill. (color). Eileen Chanin and Steven Miller. Degenerates and Perverts: The 1939 Herald Exhibition of French and British Contemporary Art . Carlton, Australia, 2005, pp. 183, 218–19, 273, 276, no. 195, ill. (color). Wendy Baron. Sickert: Paintings and Drawings . New Haven, 2006, pp. 58–59, 128, 318–19, no. 263, ill.