"Marian Collier (née Huxley)" by John Collier (1850

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Marian Collier (née Huxley)

John Collier (1850–1934)

1882-83

Oil on canvas

62 x 49 cm.

Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG 6032; purchased 1989)

Marian, the daughter of Thomas Huxley, was an artist who shared a studio in Tite Street with her husband, but after the birth of the couple's first child she suffered from acute postpartum depression and for months wouldn't leave her bed, eat, or drink. She began to improve and during a temporary recovery returned to the couple’s shared studio, where they painted portraits of each other (her portrait of her husband is in the National Portrait Gallery NPG 6811).

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Commentary by Jan Marsh from The National Portrait Gallery Online

The sitter married fellow artist John Collier in 1879 and this is the second of two recorded oil portraits by him, showing Marion as a fashionable young wife. In his Sitters Book, it is listed as ‘Marion Collier, standing’ under 1883 (as with the signature) and also as having been exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1882 (as indeed it was). This inconsistency suggests that the canvas was re-worked, an inference supported by the fact that the signature and the flowers, which overlie the dress, are later additions.

It seems likely that this work was painted while the artist was sitting to his wife for her large portrait of him (NPG 6811), presumably at the start of that endeavour. Intriguingly, however, while Marion’s portrait of John shows a reversed image on his easel which is similar in format to the present work, it depicts a left profile and ruffled lace collar. Was that Marion’s invention, or John’s original concept for this portrait? In 1884, the year after her portrait of John was shown at the Grosvenor, Marion Collier exhibited a portrait of her sister Nettie (RA 1884 [592]) and a neoclassical subject picture of two undraped and semi-draped female figures entitled By the tideless, dolorous midland sea (Grosvenor G., 1884 [222]), which was apparently bought by Arthur Lewis. By this date, however, her psychological condition was grievous and in 1887 she was examined by the celebrated neurologist J.-M. Charcot, specialist in nervous hysteria, who arranged for treatment in Paris. With her husband and two nurses she travelled to France, but died suddenly, from pneumonia, on 19 November at Suresnes, probably in the psychiatric clinic established there by Valentin Magnan.

Her obituary reads:

We regret to announce the death of the Hon. Mrs Collier, daughter of Professor Huxley and wife of the Hon. John Collier, the well-known artist. Mrs Collier, who was only 27 years of age, died at Suresnes, somewhat suddenly, of inflammation of the lungs, on Friday night last. She herself had remarkable talent as an artist. Her first picture, “The Sins of the Fathers” was favourably placed at the RA in 1879 [sic]. She was also an exhibitor in 1881, showing, in addition to a subject picture, a full-length portrait of her sister Miss Nettie Huxley. In another year her picture “By the Tideless Midland Sea” was one of the chief attractions at the Grosvenor Gallery, where Mrs Collier also exhibited some very charming child portraits.

See the NPG full catalogue entry for additional references and documentation. — George P. Landow

Bibliography

Cox, Devon. The Street of Wonderful Possibilities: Whistler, Wilde, and Sargent in Tite Street. London: Frances Lincoln, 2015.

Created 7 February 2015