Serena Mary Dunn, the Right Hon. The Lady Rothschild (b. 1935, d.2019)
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Rectangular oil painting depicting a head and shoulders portrait of Serena, Lady Rothschild.The sitter is shown seated in a chair against a half-panelled wall. Her head is slightly turned up to the left. She wears a grey jacket and white shirt, possibly riding clothes.
Michael Andrews painted Serena, Lady Rothschild, in a simple interior without any signs of wealth or status. Serena's detached expression is characteristic of Andrew's studies of introspection or even loneliness.
Born Serena Mary Dunn, Lady Rothschild married Jacob, 4th Baron Rothschild (b.1936) in 1961, with whom she had four children - Hannah (b. 1962), Beth (b. 1964), Emily (b. 1967), and Nathaniel (b. 1971). Andrews depicts Lady Rothschild in a jacket and shirt reminiscent of riding clothes, evoking her passion for race horse training. For many years Lady Rothschild oversaw the running of the Waddesdon Stud. In 2011, her three year old colt Nathaniel won the King Edward VII Stakes, and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, at Royal Ascot.
Andrews is widely regarded as one of the most important British portrait painters of the latter part of the 20th century. He trained at the Slade from 1949-1953, and rose to prominence in the 1960s with his paintings of the London social scene. His works are admired for revealing his deep understanding of his subjects; his exploration of human behaviour in general; and the psychological relationships that make up the lives of his sitters. His paintings often have the quality of detached observation whilst maintaining a rich, painterly feel.
In the late 1980s after more than a decade of exploring landscape, Andrews returned to portraiture, which had dominated his work in the 1950s. He is reported as stating: 'I had this terrific urge to be among people again, painting them: people with whom I feel no generation gap'. He painted a series of straightforward portraits, described as 'Living witnesses' (Feaver, 2001). The group included a self-portrait, as well as portraits of his wife, Serena, Jane Willoughby and her uncle David Astor, former editor of the 'Observer'.
Phillippa Plock, 2012
Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)
407 x 356
Signature & date
signed and dated on verso: [?] 1989-1991
Provenance
- Purchased by a Rothschild Family Trust, 1992.
Exhibition history
- 'Michael Andrews', The Grey Art Gallery, New York, January - 14 March 1992
- 'Michael Andrews', Tate Britain, 19 July - 30 September 2001, no. 91
Collection
- Waddesdon (Rothschild Family)
- On loan since 1995
Bibliography
- William Feaver, Paul Moorhouse; Michael Andrews; Tate Britain, London, 19 July - 7 October 2001; London; Tate Publishing; 2001; p. 155, cat. no. 91, ill.; as 'Portrait of Serena'
- 5973; p. 59
Subject person
- Serena, Lady Rothschild, Sitter