Titles

Only one title is known:

• 'Devonshire Daisy' (1895, Whistler). 1
• 'Devonshire Daisy' (1980, YMSM). 2

The title is misleading because Lyme Regis is in Dorset not Devonshire.

Description

Unknown.

Sitter

Ada Annie Govier (1885-1973) was the daughter of Samuel Edward Govier (1857-1934) (who posed for The Master Smith of Lyme Regis [YMSM 450]).

She is said to have posed for a portrait Whistler called 'Devonshire Daisy' and as a reward he gave her a gold bracelet set with an amethyst. A novelist, the late Leonard Louis Levinson (1904-1974), interviewed the sitter (Mrs Case) in 1967 but she was unable to identify her portrait from the photographs he showed her. She married Albert George Case (1884-1976). She died in March 1973 at the age of 87. Her youngest grand-daughter, Stephanie Case, inherited the bracelet Whistler had given Ada as a reward for posing. 3

Comments

The Little Rose of Lyme Regis, Boston MFA

Few portraits survive from this period, the most notable being The Little Rose of Lyme Regis [YMSM 449], illustrated above.