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Notes

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Agatha Christie is seated in an arabic arched interior, which looks like the expedition house at Chagar Bazar where she spent some time with her husband, Sir Max Mallowan (the archaeologist), between 1932 to 1937. In his memoirs he mentions seeing her seated in their dining-room mending the pottery and looking a picture of happiness in the painting by 'Dora'.

The artist was the daughter of Ruskin's biographer, W. G. Collingwood, and Edith Mary Isaac (also an artist), from Coniston in the Lake District. She married Dr Ernest Haig Riddell Altounyan (an Armenian surgeon) and lived in Aleppo in Syria in the 1930s. Their five children were the inspiration for Arthur Ransome's 'Swallows and Amazons'.

National Trust, Greenway

near Brixham

Title

Agatha Christie (1890–1976), Seated, Surrounded by Objects

Date

c.1932–1937

Medium

oil on canvas laid on board

Measurements

H 50 x W 42 cm

Accession number

121573

Acquisition method

gift from Mrs Rosalind Hicks, Anthony Hicks and Mathew Prichard, 2006

Work type

Painting

National Trust, Greenway

Greenway Road, Galmpton, near Brixham, Devon TQ5 0ES England

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Artist or maker

Dora Altounyan

1886–1964

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