Mr and Mrs Moffat Lindner and Hope
Artist and role
Hodgkins, Frances Mary (New Zealand, b.1869, d.1947), Artist
Date
1916
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About this work
‘Mr. Lindner & his little girl Hope are posing for me against his great Studio window – open, with the wind tossing her brown hair, the sea beyond. They wear such jolly tweed clothes, he snuff coat, check waistcoat & orange tie with black spots – & his jolly pink face and white curls – same colouring as Father – you may remember he always reminds me of him, a young edition – very dapper. Hope in grey tweed, berry red buttons & bright blue Tam, white stockings. This is a 4ft. x 3ft. canvas in oil – and so far it shapes well.'(1) This is clearly not the painting Frances describes to her mother – it is in tempera, a water-based medium and not oils; Hope’s clothing is different and Mrs Lindner also appears – but it is a large and successful work.
Frances first became friends with Moffat Lindner, who lived at St Ives, when he came to Caudebec to paint in 1901. In May 1907 she bumped into him again on the ferry across to Flushing in Holland. ‘Almost his first words to me were “Do you know we have got a baby?” This is really a more than ordinary occasion for rejoicing for they have been many years without.'(2) The baby was Hope.
Bad weather in October 1907 made outdoor painting impossible and Moffat Lindner taught Frances a game of Patience called Miss Milligan – difficult to get out and recommended for players seeking the satisfaction of achieving something after weeks or months of failure. Frances described it as ‘mightily interesting’. The Lindners were generous with their hospitality and gave timely financial help to Frances Hodgkins when she was living at St Ives. The painting was originally in their collection and in 1916 it was shown at the National Portrait Society exhibition in London.
1. Letter to Rachel Hodgkins, 10 Jan 1916, Gill, pp 312–313
2. Letter to Rachel Hodgkins, 29 May 1907, Gill, p 207
Frances first became friends with Moffat Lindner, who lived at St Ives, when he came to Caudebec to paint in 1901. In May 1907 she bumped into him again on the ferry across to Flushing in Holland. ‘Almost his first words to me were “Do you know we have got a baby?” This is really a more than ordinary occasion for rejoicing for they have been many years without.'(2) The baby was Hope.
Bad weather in October 1907 made outdoor painting impossible and Moffat Lindner taught Frances a game of Patience called Miss Milligan – difficult to get out and recommended for players seeking the satisfaction of achieving something after weeks or months of failure. Frances described it as ‘mightily interesting’. The Lindners were generous with their hospitality and gave timely financial help to Frances Hodgkins when she was living at St Ives. The painting was originally in their collection and in 1916 it was shown at the National Portrait Society exhibition in London.
1. Letter to Rachel Hodgkins, 10 Jan 1916, Gill, pp 312–313
2. Letter to Rachel Hodgkins, 29 May 1907, Gill, p 207
Measurements
1200 x 1022 mm support size; 1400 x 1200 mm frame size
Artist
Credit
Collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Purchased 1955 with funds from the Dunedin Public Art Gallery Society.
Accession number
7-1955
