A NOTED BEAUTY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 49, 27 February 1935, Page 13

A NOTED BEAUTY.

INFLUENCE ON POLITICS. Lady Lavery's death leaves a gap which it will be difficult, if at all possible, to fill. Sho approached life from many sides, and her personality waa felt and appreciated everywhere (say* an English paper). .Many people regarded her mainly as her husband's model and inspiration. In point of fact, she exercised a unique influence on the social and politico! life of her day. Politicians of every denomination were her friends, and, by making her home a meeting ground for English and Irish alike, she was able to break down many of the barriers that stood in the way of the signing of the treaty between England and Ireland, at the time when bloodshed threatened to burst forth in redoubled fury. For many years her husband, Sir John Lavery, R.A., annually painted a picture of her loveliness. His last tribute was to paint her lying in state. The picture shows the coffin draped with a white pall, while two long tapering candles light up the bronze crucifix at the head, and into the darkened room a tiny ray of sunlight lights the foot of the corrr and illumines a wreath of red carnations. "It is the final chapter of a beautiful life, like tho dying of a rose after tho summer has gone," is her husband's comment on the picture.