Portrait of Rosie, Fourth Marchioness of Headfort and Portrait of Geoffrey, Fourth Marquis of Headfort Never Before Offered on the Open Market

Two outstanding portraits by Irish artist Sir William Orpen will headline Sotheby's sale of British and Irish Art in London on Thursday, 10 May 2012. The company is redesigning its traditional auctions of Victorian and Edwardian Art, and Irish Art and these sales will be retitled British and Irish Art: Victorian/Early 20th Century/Sporting/Marine/Scottish/Irish. These auctions will take place in May and November and will bring together the finest drawings, watercolours and oil paintings from the Pre-Raphaelites to the British Impressionists. In addition, these two sales will have dedicated sections for Victorian Art, Early 20th Century British Art, Marine Art, Sporting Art, The Scottish Sale and The Irish Sale. Celebrating the distinct character of British and Irish Art will no doubt engage collectors worldwide, in response to the demands of new buyers who collect across a variety of genres.

Sir William Orpen, R.A., R.H.A. (1878-1931) is celebrated for his masterful portraiture. The May 2012 sale will bring to the market for the first time two fine portraits of The 4th Marquis and Marchioness of Headfort from a Private Collection. Portrait of Rosie, Fourth Marchioness of Headfort is estimated at £300,000-500,000 and Portrait of Geoffrey, Fourth Marquis of Headfort is estimated at £60,000-80,000.

The sitters, Geoffrey Thomas Taylour and Rose Boote, fell in love in the face of disrepute and disgrace, and it was a love that endured until Geoffrey's death in 1943. Rose commissioned the portraits and they were almost invariably exhibited in the same exhibitions. Rose Boote, later 4th Marchioness of Headfort (1878-1958) was a Gaiety Girl who sang under her professional name of Miss Rosie Boote.  She was the daughter of a comedian from Nottingham and a straw hat sewer. It is said that she so charmed the young Marquis of Headfort, Geoffrey Thomas Taylour (1878-1943) following their meeting in 1900 that he married her on 11th April 1901. The Marquis was from one of the most prominent Protestant families in Ireland and Rose was a Catholic.

Geoffrey had succeeded to the title 4th Marquis of Headfort on the death of his father in 1894 and he moved in the highest echelons of British Society.  Upon her marriage, Rose left the theatre and resided with her husband at Headfort House in Ireland and in London.