Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer (1906-69) (oil on canvas)

The sitter was a talented author, landowner and devoted public servant, who left Felbrigg to the National Trust on his death in 1969. His quiet demeanour could sometimes give way to anger: the explosion when a guest inconvenienced his staff by coming late to dinner is recounted by Sir Brinsley Ford, and others wince at the memory of his wrath when he discovered someone smoking a cigarette in Felbrigg church. He carefully balanced the needs of the house against those of his tenants, restraining the urge to clean important pictures when the money was more urgently needed for the improvement of cottages. The portrait was unfinished at the time of his death, and the somewhat unsatisfactory nature of the portrait is due to it having been completed posthumously. Apparently the artist was reluctant to end the pretext for his agreeable trips to Felbrigg.