LONG FIGHT FOR LIFE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19942, 29 October 1934, Page 13

LONG FIGHT FOR LIFE

SKETCHES IN SICK ROOM A half-completed painting recently stood on an easel in Sir John Laverty’s pleasant house in Cromwell Place, London. It was a picture of Lady Laverty in bed. For weeks it had stood neglected, its canvos veiled.

Over it hung the shadow that darkened the whole house. It seemed, until a few days ago, said a “Daily Express” correspondent, that that shadow might never lift, and the painting never be completed. The other day, however, the canvos was once more revealed to the light of day, and the brush of the distinguished artist began to transform its half- completed surface.

The correspondent proceeds: “For Lady Laverty is going to get well. For nine months she has been in bed. She has been near death. But now, Sir John says, her recovery, though it will be slow, is happily considered certain.” Lady Laverty fought for life with the same gaiety as formerly she took her place in London’s parade of fashion and beauty. Her bedroom was not allowed to have any suggestion of a sickroom. It looks like Titania’s bower.

During the long months of his wife’s illness, when sleep and rest were impossible, Sir John would talk to her and sketch her. It is this study of Lady Laverty, on which he has expended all his genius, that takes first place with him now among the many portraits of this wife that he has painted. “The whole thing started with a wisdom tooth,” Sir John said. “There had to be an operation, and the anaesthetic affected Lady Laverty’s heart. She went to Brighton three months ago to convalescence, and had a severe relapse. Since then she has been very ill.”