SAUMAREZ, Hon. Marion

1885 - 1978

Hon. Marion Saumarez was born at St George's Hanover Square, London on 29 June 1885, daughter of diplomat James St Vincent, 4th Lord de Saumarez (17 July 1843-25 April 1937), and his wife Jane Anne née Vere-Broke (c1853-17 January 1933), who was born at Zante, Ionian Islands, and of Shrubland Hall, near Ipswich, an estate brought to the Saumarez family through the Broke family, her brother was James St Vincent Broke Saumarez (1889–1969), 5th Baron and father of Veronica Saumarez and Christine Saumarez. Marion was brought up in Guernsey and in Paris, where her father took an apartment, which gave her an ideal opportunity to develop her interest in painting and she enrolled in the Académie Julian. This French Art Academy was groundbreaking at that time in that it offered women the same training in art as men. At the exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors Painters at the Paris Salon in 1906, Marion received an 'Honorable Mention' for her portrait of Lord de Saumarez also exhibiting at the Royal Amateur Art Society, London 1907-1911. A member of Ipswich Art Club 1912-1942 and exhibited from Shrubland Park, Coddenham, Ipswich in 1916, two portraits 'Miss P. Horton' and 'Miss E. Horton', in 1923 'Glen Crearan, Argyll', in 1927 'The Old Monk' and in 1932 'Monte Casino'. She also exhibited from 43 Grosvenor Place, London at the London Salon in 1906, the New Gallery in 1908 and at the Paris Salon achieving some success as a portraitist, notable sitters include the novelist Montague Rhodes James and Marion's sister Gladys (1887-1975). Marion Saumarez died at Orion Cottage, 114 Coton Road, Grantchester, Cambridgeshire on 12 November 1978, she was unmarried. On inheriting the estate in 1887 the Lords Saumarez lived at Shrubland Hall until they placed the estate on the market in 2006 and returned to Guernsey. Her paintings can be found in both private and public collections. An example of her work can be seen at St Andrew's Church, Tostock, Suffolk, which contains the painting 'The Altar of Sacrifice' which was commissioned as a Parish Memorial to those who died in the First World War. A self-portrait of Marion Saumarez playing a violin was on sale at Cheffins Fine Art at Cambridge in November 2018.

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Works by This Artist