Alice Knewstub, 1897 (chalk on paper)

Alice Knewstub was the daughter of the artist Walter John Knewstub, Rossetti's studio assistant. After her father's marriage to one of his sitters, his income plummeted and he found it difficult to provide for his family. Thus, Alice went to work at an early age and soon found herself a job as an actress, taking the stage name Alice Kingsley. With her income she was able to send her two other sisters to school and help support the family. She met William Rothenstein at a reception in honour of the playwright Maurice Maeterlinck in 1895. They married two years after this portrait was drawn. Alice was a known beauty and was widely admired. William Rothenstein, in his memoirs Men and Memories, tells of a visit to a monastery in France with Alice and how he was so touched by the beauty of the monastery’s interior and the sense of peace and security that the monk who was with him hoped that he would be converted. Rothenstein explained to the monk as they walked to the door, that he was a painter and that many things in the world were very beautiful to him. As he reached the door with the monk, they saw Alice 'with her bright gold hair' and the monk resigned, knowing he would not see Rothenstein again. Legros was Rothenstein's first drawing master at the Slade and subsequently a close friend, despite their difference in age. Legros was born in Dijon but in 1863 he moved to England where he was welcomed by Rossetti and G. F.Watts. On the recommendation of Poynter, he was appointed teacher of etching at the South Kensington School of Art, and his success in that post led to his election in 1875 to the Slade Professoship of Fine Art at University College, London. He remained there until 1892 where his pupils included Thomas Cooper Gotch, William Strang and Charles Holroyd. In his teaching he encouraged truth of character and severity, with a simple technique and respect for the traditions of the Old Masters.