Full title: Death mask of Henry Lawson, ca. 1922

Author/creator: Illingworth, Nelson, 1862-1926.

Date: 1922 (dated by year of Lawson's death).

Call Numbers: R 774

Record Identifier: nV2pOgQn

Language:

Formats: Pictures, Objects

Contents: Objects - 26 x 18.5 x 16 cm. - 1 plaster cast coated on face with gray paint

Publishers:

Notes: Manuscript material which accompanied the mask is filed at MLMSS. It is uncertain whether this is a death or life mask. Ian McLaren quotes a statement from Dorothy Ellesmere Paul which claims that Lawson's face was too contorted in death for a mask to be made (see notes compiled by I.F. McLaren in 1979, Locn. no. PXn 578 Mitchell Library). The Illingworth family tradition however, states that this is a death mask and contemporary newspaper accounts refer to a death mask being made (see newsclippings in: Sunday Guardian 16 August 1931 Locn no. QA 821/L425.1 vol. 31 Mitchell Library). Illingworth's obituaries also refer to a death mask (see unidentified newsclipping held with ML MSS Mitchell Library). It is possible this is a life mask made by Illingworth while modelling his plaster bust of Lawson ca.1918-20, now in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. The mask was offered by the Illingworth family at Sotheby's Fine Australian Painting, 29 November 1993, lot 105 where it was purchased by the present vendor. This item has been digitised as part of the Nelson Meers Foundation Benefaction, 2002 Digital order no:Album ID : 825717

Permalink: https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/nV2pOgQn

MMS ID: 110044527