Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1873 New Rochelle, New York, USA

Died: 1961 Stratford Tony, Wiltshire, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1904

Other name/s: Jane Emmet de Glehn , Jane Erin Emmet , Jane Erin Emmet von Glehn, Jane Emmet

Biography

Artist Jane Emmet de Glehn was born in New Rochelle, New York, USA in 1873. She came from a distinguished line of American women painters, descended from the Irish rebel, Robert Emmet and was related to the novelist, Henry James. The youngest of her generation, she followed her sisters, Rosina Emmet Sherwood and Lydia Field Emmet, into a life devoted to art. Their success paved the way for her early training at the Art Students League in New York, where she refined her portraiture under William Merritt Chase and others. She later studied in Paris with sculptor Frederick MacMonnies and at the Académie Colarossi, developing the sure, careful style that would define her delicate chalk portraits. From the start, she showed a gift for capturing subtle qualities of character with a steady hand, keen eye, and nuanced highlights.

In 1903, she met the English painter Wilfrid Gabriel de Glehn, who was then assisting John Singer Sargent and Edwin Austin Abbey on murals for the Boston Public Library. In 1904, they were married at the Emmet family home in New Rochelle. Days later, the couple sailed to Europe and took up residence at 73 Cheyne Walk in Chelsea, London. Close friends and frequent visitors to their home included Singer Sargent; the painters, Henry Tonks and Philip Wilson Steer; the actress, Ruth Draper; Henry James; and figures from the musical world, such as Roger Quilter and Percy Grainger. An avid traveler, she joined Wilfrid and Sargent on extensive painting excursions through Italy, Spain, and the Swiss Alps, often featuring in their compositions. Sargent famously depicted her at her easel in The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati (1907), showing her poised concentration as she worked.

Although her husband’s career steadily advanced (he became a Royal Academician in 1932 and a Senior RA in 1946), and her artistic reputation remained quieter and more understated compared to that of her more famous sisters in America, de Glehn maintained her own active exhibition record. She showed at the New English Art Club (NEAC), Allied Artists' Association (AAA) and regularly contributed works to the Royal Academy of Arts annual exhibitions—showing fifteen times between 1921 and 1946. In 1913, the Fine Art Society in London presented de Glehn’s portrait drawings alongside Wilfrid’s paintings. She also showed with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Her works were highlighted for their sensitive and insightful characterisation, particularly her crayon portraits, praised in the press for their simplicity of style and accurate likenesses (notable sitters included Gerald du Maurier and Percy Grainger (London Evening Standard 1913, p. 13). Her crayon drawing of Mr. C. L. Chute, exhibited at the RA in 1938 was lauded as ‘an admirable piece of work […] with that keen awareness which is the characteristic of Mr. Chute’ (Hampshire Advertiser 1938, p. 5).

When the First World War began, de Glehn volunteered with Wilfrid at a French Red Cross hospital in Arc-en-Barrois, where he served as an interpreter and ambulance driver, and she managed domestic duties, while sketching wounded soldiers to raise funds. The experience of depicting men who had seen the full brunt of war lent her portraits a fresh poignancy. After the Armistice, the couple resumed their artistic life in London. During the 1930s, de Glehn became a vocal critic of fascism, often expressing deep concern over the political climate in Europe. She provided financial support to Spanish orphans and to Jewish and Austrian refugees fleeing persecution. In 1931, the actress Ruth Draper visited the de Glehns at their Wilton home, accompanied by the Italian anti-fascist poet and aviator, Lauro de Bosis. De Glehn sketched his portrait during the visit—an image made all the more poignant by his death later that year during a solo flight over Rome to distribute anti-Mussolini leaflets.

Tragedy struck again during the Second World War, when bombs destroyed their Chelsea home in 1941. Forced to relocate, the de Glehns settled in Wiltshire, seeking a calmer existence away from the city. Even as conflict raged, she persisted in her painting, frequently depicting local landscapes and the quieter rhythms of rural life. After Wilfrid’s death in 1951, de Glehn remained in Wiltshire, painting tranquil scenes and drawing companions from her small circle. She rarely sought the limelight, preferring instead the satisfaction of steady work and dedication. Well into her later years, she would set up her easel by a garden or stream, capturing the play of light and the texture of flowers or foliage with her characteristic delicacy. Jane de Glehn died at Stratford Tony, Wiltshire, England on 20 February 1961. In the UK public domain, her work is represented in the Ulster Museum and Royal Academy of Arts collections. The studio estates of both Wilfrid and Jane de Glehn are represented by Messum’s, who have curated exhibitions including: Wilfrid and Jane de Glehn. The Wiltshire Landscapes (2013) and Wilfrid and Jane de Glehn ‘Everywhere at Home … (2015).

Related books

Michael Anesko, ‘A Network of Repressions’, in Henry James and Queer Filiation: Hardened Bachelors of the Edwardian Era (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), pp. 57-65
Richard Ormond, Elaine Kilmurray and Trevor J. Fairbrother, Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends (New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2015)
In Search of a Golden Age: Works From The Studio Estate Of Wilfrid and Jane De Glehn (Marlow: The Studio, 2008)
The American Connection: Paintings by Jane and Wilfrid de Glehn (London: Messum's, 1994)
‘Mrs. Jane De Glehn’, The Times, 20 March 1961, p. 18
‘Hampshire Pictures at the Academy’, Hampshire Advertiser, 14 May 1938, p. 5
H. S., ‘Art’, The Spectator, 7 May 1921, p. 586
‘Fine Art Society’, London Evening Standard, 3 June 1913, p. 13
‘The Opening of the Autumn Picture Show’, The Sphere, 19 October 1912, p. 26

Public collections

Ultster Museum

Related organisations

Atelier Vitti, Paris (student)
Art Students League, New York (student)

Selected exhibitions

Wilfrid and Jane de Glehn. ‘Everywhere at Home’, Messum’s, London (2015)
Wilfrid and Jane de Glehn. The Wiltshire Landscapes Messum’s, London (2013)
Wilfrid and Jane de Glehn: People and Places, Messum’s, London (2012)
British Impressions, Messum’s, London (2011)
The American Connection: Paintings by Jane and Wilfrid de Glehn, Messum’s, London (1994)
Paintings by Wilfrid G. von Glehn and Portrait Drawings Jane Emmet von Glehn, Fine Art Society, London (1913)
Royal Institute of Painters in Oil Colours, London (1912)
Pastel Society, Royal Institute, London (1908)
Royal Academy of Arts, London (1946, 1943, 1942, 1940, 1939, 1938, 1937, 1936, 1935, 1926, 1924, 1921)
Royal Society of Portrait Painters, London (1926, 1924)
Fifty-first Exhibition of Modern Pictures. New English Art Club, Galleries of the Royal Society of British Artists, London (1914)
The Goupil Gallery Salon, London (1913)
Forty-ninth Exhibition of Modern Pictures. New English Art Club, Galleries of the Royal Society of British Artists, London (1913)
Forty-third Exhibition of Modern Pictures. New English Art Club, London (1910)
Fortieth Exhibition of Modern Pictures. New English Art Club, Dering Yard, London (1908)
Allied Artists Association, Royal Albert Hall, London (1908)
Thirty-Sixth Exhibition of Modern Pictures. New English Art Club, Dering Yard, London (1906)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Jane de Glehn ]