George Owen Wynne Apperley (British, 1884-1960) Hilda May Wynne-Apperley, 1908 signed and dated (lower right), inscribed (upper left) watercolour and gouache 96.4cm x 62.7cm. Exhibited: Royal Academy, London, 1909, no.812 as 'The Painter's Wife'; Bushey Museum, Bushey, George Owen Wynne Apperley, July 1987 as Hilda at the Chelsea Arts Club Ball, Covent Garden. Provenance: Hilda May (née Pope) Wynne-Apperley and thence by direct descent. This painting can be ranked amongst Wynne Apperley's most significant early works, hanging on the 'eye-line' in the Royal Academy in 1909. Painted during the period when Apperley was establishing his reputation, it clearly shows the influence of other Edwardian societal artists such as John Lavery and John Singer Sargent. Hilda May Pope married Apperley in 1907, somewhat to the consternation of her own family. They established home together in West Hampstead and his artistic life flourished with exhibitions at the Baille Gallery, London (1906) and Leicester Galleries (1908 and 1910). The painting probably depicts her at the inaugural Chelsea Arts Club Ball in 1908 at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, an important event in Edwardian society set-up to rival the balls of Paris and Rome. It captures her full-length in all the armaments of female adornment, with fan in hand and is completely true to its period. It takes on even more significance with the thought that by 1916 the artist had left his wife and two children to live in southern Spain, never to see them again.