AN OIL painting of a tragic Victorian beauty whose family lived at Conisbrough is expected to fetch more than £1 million in auction at Sotheby’s in New York.

The picture, called Mavourneen, Portrait Of Kathleen Newton, was painted in 1877 by the French artist Jacques Joseph Tissot.

The painting is a poignant portrait of the woman who loved and inspired him.
Five years after Tissot - who preferred to be known as James - finished this picture his lover died from tuberculosis, on November 9, 1882, aged just 28.

Grief-stricken Tissot promptly left the London house he had shared with Kathleen, unable to live any longer with the painful memories and reminders it contained.

He went home to France and never returned.

Multi-millionaire Cats and Evita composer Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber is an avid collector of Tissot paintings and now owns eight, including some featuring Kathleen.
It is not yet known whether Lord Lloyd Webber, who is worth an estimated £700 million, will be bidding for the Tissot picture.

When the painting came up for sale at Sotheby’s in London on November 14, 1973, it sold for just £2,300.

Posted: 10|23|06 at 11:36 am. Filed under: Auction News.