This masterful early 20th-century oil painting by English artist Mary Lemon Waller (1851-1931) depicts Miss Doris B Holloway (1915-2011) at age 4. She’s standing before a far-reaching view while carrying daisies and buttercups.Often compared with the great Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mary Lemon Waller was a distinguished portrait painter who was highly regarded for her depictions of children. She trained at Gloucester Art School and Royal Academy Schools where she boarded with several other aspiring painters including Helen Allingham RWS (1848-1926).Her portrayals are refined, yet not overworked, and retain a sense of the sitter’s underlying spirit. In this regard, The Queen newspaper described her as possessing a “sense of beauty” and a “cultivated natural taste”. In 1877, she debuted at the Royal Academy and soon established a solid reputation as one of Britain’s finest child portraitists. As such, she undertook numerous commissions including those from Italy, the USA, and South Ame...