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Artist: Sir John Lavery RA RHA RSA (1856-1941) Title: Mrs. J.F. McGuire Signature: signed lower right 'J Lavery'(verso, inscribed Mrs J.F. McGuire/ painted by Sir John Lavery R.A. LL.D./ New York/ 1926) Medium: oil on canvas Size: 76.60 x 64cm (30.2 x 25.2in) Framed Size: 91.4 x 78.5cm (36 x 30.9in) Provenance: The McGuire Family, New Hampshire and New York; The Closson Galleries, Cincinnati, Ohio; Doyle New York, 9 May 2018, lot 8; Adam's, Dublin, 26 September 2018, lot 78; Private Collection Exhibited: New York, Duveen Galleries, American Portraits, Interiors and Landscapes by Sir John Lavery 29 November - 11 December 1926, no 21, as Mrs. J.F. McGuire a#morebtn { color: #de1d01; } a#morebtn:hover { cursor: pointer;} In November 1925, Lavery, accompanied by his wife, Hazel, and secretary, CR Chisman, set sail for New York to attend the opening of the painter's solo exhibition at the Duveen Galleries on Fifth Avenue. Their arrival signalled the start of an 'American Campaign' that had been being planned since the... Sir John Lavery Lot 29 - 'Mrs. J.F. McGuire' Estimate: €15,000 - €25,000 In November 1925, Lavery, accompanied by his wife, Hazel, and secretary, CR Chisman, set sail for New York to attend the opening of the painter's solo exhibition at the Duveen Galleries on Fifth Avenue. Their arrival signalled the start of an 'American Campaign' that had been being planned since the summer. The Duveen show was being scheduled to tour to selected galleries in the United States, throughout the forthcoming year, and portrait commissions from wealthy Americans were in train. Since his Glasgow days, Lavery's reputation in the United States was solid. The award of a gold medal at the first Carnegie International exhibition in Pittsburgh, in 1896, was followed by regular submissions to its exhibitions. These led to a special feature display of 36 paintings in 1912 - effectively a discreet retrospective - some of which toured to Chicago. After the Great War, the Pittsburgh submissions continued, but now, his presence in the United States would be greatly enhanced by portraits and interiors delivered in situ to prominent Americans. Portrait sittings were held in a suite in the Ambassador Hotel overlooking Central Park, and two of these were for the portraits of Mrs JF McGuire and her daughter, Julia. Mrs McGuire, née Julia Folger MacGregor, was the daughter of John MacGregor and Harriette Elizabeth Folger. Her father was a lawyer practicing in Cleveland, Ohio. In her teens, she attended Lake Erie Seminary for young women between 1886 and 1888, before her marriage to John Francis McGuire in September 1897. Her husband, who hailed from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, was descended from the McGuires of Bruff, county Limerick. He graduated from Yale University in the 'Class of 1890' and ascended to an executive position in the BF Goodrich Company before becoming President of the Republic Rubber Co of Youngstown, Ohio, in the heyday of rubber tyre and hose production for the automotive industry. Rapid expansion of both companies ensured the family's considerable fortune, enabling McGuire to retire to rural New Hampshire in 1911. By this stage, the McGuires had two daughters, Harriette, later Mrs Lloyd H Fales, and Julia, later Mrs Francis L Blewer (fig 1). Up to this point Lavery had of course, painted numerous portraits of mothers and daughters, sometimes on the same canvas. He recognized that while youth often attracted attention, age and experience had its own beauty - as his haunting portrait of Hazel Lavery as The Gold Turban 1929 (Private Collection) indicates. Mrs McGuire, (fig 2) in this respect, has a formidable presence that draws out the finer aspects of Lavery's handling. Mastery is revealed in the rapid notation of beads and pearls, and in the treatment of fine silk gauze that falls from Mrs McGuire's shoulder