Mabel Lee Hankey (née Mabel Emily Hobson, 14 October 1867 – 5 January 1943) was a British artist specialising in

miniature portraits ''Miniature Portraits'' is the second studio album by Five Style, released on August 24, 1999, by Sub Pop. Track listing Personnel Adapted from the ''Miniature Portraits'' liner notes. ;Five Style *Leroy Bach – bass guitar, guita ...

painted in watercolour.

Family and early life

Mabel Lee Hankey was born Mabel Emily Hobson, the fourth child of the artists Henry Edrington Hobson (1819-1881) and Ada Vinson Hardy (1829-1911). She was one of the third generation of artists in the family; both her grandfathers, Henry Hobson and James Hardy, were also artists. Mabel's siblings were also employed as artists: Henry Hope Hobson as a draftsman, Amy Elizabeth Hobson as a portrait painter, and Cecil James Hobson also as a painter of miniature portraits in watercolour.

Marriage

In 1896 Hobson married

William Lee Hankey William Lee Hankey (1869–1952) RWS, RI, ROI, RE, NS was a British painter and book illustrator. He specialised in landscapes, character studies and portraits of pastoral life, particularly in studies of mothers with young children such as "We ...

(1869–1952), an artist who worked on book illustrations, character studies, landscapes, and pastoral scenes. After changing her name to Mabel Lee Hankey, she was listed variously under ''Lee Hankey'', ''Lee-Hankey'', or ''Hankey'' in catalogues. The marriage ended in divorce after 21 years, and thereafter Hankey used the name ''Mabel Emily Hankey''.

Career

Mabel Lee Hankey exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

, the

Royal Miniature Society The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers, more commonly known as the Royal Miniature Society (RMS), is an art society founded in 1895 dedicated to upholding and continuing the tradition of miniature painting and sculpture, ...

, the

Royal Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

and the Society of Women Artists from 1889 to 1897 under her maiden name (Mabel Emily Hobson), and again from 1898-1914 under the name Mabel Lee Hankey. She exhibited over 70 miniature portraits, mainly of women or children, at the Royal Academy. She painted widely for aristocratic families, but is perhaps best known for her portraits of

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...

. In 1905, Lady Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne commissioned a watercolour miniature portrait of her daughter,

, later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, which Hankey exhibited at the

and is now in the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

. Hankey went on to paint Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon a number of times from childhood to adulthood and also her brother,

David Bowes-Lyon Sir David Bowes-Lyon KCVO (2 May 1902 – 13 September 1961) was the sixth son and last child of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and Cecilia Nina Cavendish-Bentinck, as well as their tenth and youngest child. His el ...

, in 1916. In a portrait of Lady Elizabeth painted in 1907, she wears a dress made by her mother, Lady Strathmore, based on a gown in a painting by Velázquez. Sir Roy Strong wrote about the portrait: "...there is never any doubt that the sitter has no element of hesitation or shyness in her relationship with portrait painters. The lustrous blue-grey eyes entrance the onlooker, the winsome tilt of the head already exudes that famous abundant charm, an attribute which is mentioned by every artist who has written any account of a sitting". In 1923 Lady Strathmore commissioned a miniature portrait of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon wearing an evening dress; the painting was framed in gold and silver set with sapphires, with a jeweled crown at the top. On 23 February 1923 Lady Elizabeth wrote in her diary that a "horrible photographer" had been lying in wait for her when she went for a sitting to Mabel Hankey. The portrait was a wedding gift to

Prince Albert, Duke of York George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

on his marriage to

in 1923. The painting was kept on the writing desk of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

in her private sitting room at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

. File:Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon aged seven. 1907. Watercolour by Mabel Emily Lee Hankey.jpg, ''Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon aged seven'' (1907) File:Edwin Fagg Esq. FRSL. 1929. Watercolour by Mabel Emily Lee Hankey.jpg, ''Edwin Fagg Esq. FRSL'' (1929) File:Lady Wimborne, née Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill, OBE. 1905. Watercolour by Mabel Emily Lee Hankey.jpg, ''Lady Wimborne, née Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill'' (1905) Towards the end of 1939,

Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022 ...

commissioned Mabel Lee Hankey to paint her portrait in watercolour, possibly as a means of providing some financial support; a memorandum written by the Queen stipulated that Mabel should be paid in advance for the portrait. At the beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Mabel Lee Hankey moved from London to

Storrington Storrington is a small town in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England, and one of two in the civil parish of Storrington and Sullington. Storrington lies at the foot of the north side of the South Downs. it has a population of around 4,60 ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

(at "Fleurbaix in North Lane). In 1942 Queen Elizabeth commissioned portraits of the Princesses Elizabeth and

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...

, and another portrait of herself. The paintings were completed by Mabel Lee Hankey shortly before she died on 5 January 1943.

Work in public collections

, later the Queen Mother, painted 1907 (

) * Princess Mary, later Princess Royal & Countess of Harewood, painted 1910-14 (

) *

Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne Cecilia Nina Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne (' Cavendish-Bentinck; 11 September 1862 – 23 June 1938) was the mother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, maternal grandmother and godmother of Queen Elizabeth II, and great-g ...

, painted 1923 (

) * Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, painted c. 1923 (

) *

, later the Queen Mother, painted 1940 (

) * Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II, painted 1942 (

) *

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...

, later Countess of Snowdon, painted 1942 (

) * Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth, painted 1905 (Gawthorpe Textile Collection) * Lady Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill, painted 1905 (

Poole Museum Poole Museum (formerly known as the Waterfront Museum) is a local history museum situated on the Lower High Street in the Old Town area of Poole, Dorset, and is part of the Borough of Poole Museum Service. Entrance to Poole Museum is free, and th ...

) * Alice Frances Theodora Wythes, Marchioness of Bristol (1875-1957), painted 1903 (

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Ickworth House Ickworth House is a country house at Ickworth, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. It is a neoclassical building set in parkland. The house was the residence of the Marquess of Bristol before being sold to the National Trust in 1998. H ...

) * Lady Violet Ida Evelyn Lane-Fox, 16th Baroness Darcy of Nayth, Countess of Powis (1865-1929), painted 1885-1890 (

, Powis Castle) * Edwin Fagg Esq (

Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers, more commonly known as the Royal Miniature Society (RMS), is an art society founded in 1895 dedicated to upholding and continuing the tradition of miniature painting and sculpture, ...

archive collection) * ''Summer Days'' ( Christchurch Art Gallery)

References

External links

Miniatures by Hankey in the Royal Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hankey, Mabel Lee 1867 births 1943 deaths 19th-century English painters 20th-century English painters 19th-century English women artists 20th-century English women artists Artists from Bath, Somerset British watercolourists English women painters People from Storrington Portrait miniaturists Women watercolorists