Lilla Cabot Perry (1848–1933)

LILLA CABOT PERRY (1848–1933)
The Pink Beret, about 1911–12
Oil on canvas, 27 x 21 1/2 in.
Signed with initials (over edge of stretcher): LCP

EX COLL.: the artist; to her estate, 1933–69; to [Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1969]; to Pauline Stanbury (Mrs. Norman B.) Woolworth, New York, 1969; private collection, Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan; to sale, James D. Julia Inc., Fairfield, Maine, January 8, 2004, lot no. 100]; to private collection, 2024

Perry’s earliest models were her three young daughters, Margaret, Edith, and Alice, who appear in many of the paintings she executed in both America and abroad. Following the family’s return to Boston in November 1909, Perry continued to paint children, taking on portrait commissions as well as creating independent works for exhibition purposes. By now, her own offspring were older, their childhood days behind them. However, Lilla found an ideal child model elsewhere. Indeed, during 1911–12 she created a series of portrait studies featuring a pretty, blue-eyed toddler named Hildegarde (the daughter of a friend), who appears in such well-known oils as Cherry Blossoms (1911); The Tea Party, My Lamb, and Hildegarde and the Lamb. Notable for her blue eyes and long golden locks, Hildegarde is likewise the pretty little girl depicted in The Pink Beret, a half-length portrait which shows her seated before an unadorned background that serves to highlight her green coat, white scarf, and most importantly, as the title implies, her luminous pink bonnet.