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Woman reclining on a beach
A Liberal Little Library

Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House and the changing status of women in the 1920s

SIR FRANCIS BERNARD DICKSEE (1853-1928)

A woman with red hair

c.1923

RCIN 926943

Head and shoulders of woman, body inclined to R, head nearly profile L, with orange hair, green dress, against dark blue b/ground. Initials at lr.

This miniature watercolour was painted for Queen Mary's Dolls' House, which was built between 1921 and 1924 for Queen Mary, consort of King George V, by the leading British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. Princess Marie Louise, who was a cousin of George V's and a childhood friend of Queen Mary's, came up with the concept of the Dolls' House, as Queen Mary loved all things diminutive and decorative. Princess Marie Louise worked closely with Lutyens to realise the project, which includes contributions from over 1,500 of the finest artists, craftsmen and manufacturers of the early twentieth century. In 1922 Princess Marie Louise wrote personally to individual artists to invite them to contribute a work on paper to the collection for the Dolls' House Library. She stipulated that the size of the works should be 1½ by 1 inch (3.8 x 2.5 cm).

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