by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author’s program note. Do you believe in fate? Do you believe that there are people on this planet we are meant to meet? That we will meet… no matter how unlikely that seems at this moment? When I contemplate the matter objectively as my training as a social scientist demands, I come to the obvious, the expected, the empirical conclusion that the idea of fate is superstitious hokus-pokus… then a chance encounter with Catherine Stephens occurs and challenges my logic, for surely this is kismet indeed.
Some background.
I am that most uncomfortable and difficult of beings, a connoisseur; that is a person who is engaged in the strenuous, never-ending search for rapture; a state which occurs whenever I see a thing and know that thing must be mine, cannot go anywhere but to me… for my well-being, the very completion of myself depends on my acquiring it.
Every connoisseur knows this unsettled state for each of us goes through it, especially (it seems) when money is in short supply, possibly due to having only recently been so touched and agitated… by something else.
But there’s the rub. Whenever one enters this condition, it is as if for the very first time, so intense, so unsettling are the pangs. And this can happen anywhere at anytime. Be warned.
In the matter of Catherine Stephens they occurred as I perused the pages of the Dorotheum auction catalog for The Prince Kinski Sale, February 28, 2012. Lot 96. Given my interest in the nobility and royal families of Europe, it was inevitable I should consult this catalog… and perhaps find something; but by no means inevitable that thing would be a portrait of a lovely actress and singer elevated into the highest echelon of the English aristocracy. Yet just as Catherine Stephens captivated and in 1838 married the octogenarian fifth earl of the ninth creation of Essex, the Right Honorable George Capell-Coningsby (1757-1839) … so she captivated me… and so (I warn you) she will captivate you, too.
Some facts about Miss Stephens.
Catherine Stephens (1794-1882) was the daughter of Edward Stephens, a carver and gilder in Park Street, Grosvenor Square, London. Theirs was a musical family… and her musical talent was encouraged. Thus, on 23 September 1813 she appeared at Covent Garden as Mandane in the opera “Artaxerxes” by Thomas Arne (1710-1778) . He was the celebrated composer who wrote “Rule, Britannia!” and even a version of “God Save The King”, which became the British national anthem. She was in very good company indeed…
… and (I warned you) she enchanted them all. The aria that launched her career was “The soldier tir’d of war’s alarms”, and it was theater magic.
You’ll want to hear it. And you can. Go to any search engine where you can hear Joan Sutherland’s 1960 performance. Now imagine the lovely very young Catherine’s candlelit debut and the dulcet tones which made each member of the restive audience believe — no, not just believe but know — she was singing just for them. That was always to be her secret…
That quality was instantly apparent in this circa 1838 portrait by Sir Martin Archer Shee (1769-1850). This was the most sympathetic face I had ever seen. And it was instantly clear that he, too, for all that he was consummate master of his craft, knight of the realm and President of the Royal Academy (PRA) had felt the power of her serene radiance. Thus perforce did I stop to regard.
Most pictures of grand ladies, particularly titled ladies, say, “Look at me and be honored to do so. For I am worth the viewing.” Such pictures may awe and dazzle… but they do not warm or beckon us. They are about the subject, not the viewer. But Shee’s inviting portrait makes you feel certain about your reception, certain she wants to meet you and will be good to you. Above all that she will be good to you…. for that is what we all need. And if that quality is immediately apparent in the sitter it is not just because Shee is a master, supremely confident in his skill, but because it was there for all the world to see in the lady herself.
Hard times for the Kinskis. Hard times for the painting.
To understand the fate of this picture you must understand something of the noble families of Mitteleuropa, families which were the foundation of the Austro- Hungarian empire. When it fell in 1918 families like the Kinskis lost the fruits of their hundreds of years of advancement. Their lives ceased to be glamorous but rather one lawsuit after another, largely futile attempts to regain property — and self-esteem. Throughout the declension of their lives and fortunes, the princes Kinski kept this picture. And it was in the old prince’s drawing room when he died. It was, remember, always comforting…. even when its condition was dire… as it was when I saw it and asked Simon Gillespie to give me his opinion.
Miss Stephens charms Mr. Gillespie of Cleveland Street.
London England-based Simon is my chosen conservator, the man who has restored over 30 of my pictures and upon whose informed opinion I rely, picture after superbly restored picture. As much a master of his craft as Arne and Shee in theirs, he, like them, felt the enduring charm of Catherine Stephens and wanted to restore the picture as much for her sake as for mine.
Thus he and his talented staff set to their important work, removing the dirt of time and poor maintenance, old varnishes and over paint applied by less careful and discerning hands. When this was finished, the now pristine canvass yielded a considerable secret using radiology, namely that Shee had originally positioned the sitter quite differently, for a full frontal pose with both shoulders visible. But as Shee painted he came to see his subject better and divine the source of her undeniable allure. And so he started again, his flamboyant technique very apparent in the repositioned result that captivates … and makes such an entrancing vision and desirable painting.
This is the image not just of one particular woman but of what the Victorians wanted from Woman in general, kindness, courtesy, sweetness of face and of manner, a willing ear, sympathetic at all times, generous of spirit — in short the celestial ideal advanced by Coventry Patmore (1823-1896) in his important poem “The Angel in the House” written in stages from 1854-1862. It was an image that swept the world..
“Now she was there! Within her face/Humility and dignity/ Were met in a most sweet embrace/She seem’d expressly sent below/ To teach our erring minds to see/ The rhythmic change of life’s swift flow/ As part of still eternity.”
This is why this portrait of a lady and exalted countess is so important. You see, it makes clear what Woman may choose to be and of her profound significance in our often sore afflicted and troubled lives. I know, for when in my own life such troubles emerge, as troubles can do, I look up at this soothing, welcoming image now here before me in Cambridge and find comfort, peace and the kindness we all need.
