Mrs C Dale

Reginald Henry Jerrold-Nathan was born in London in 1889. He studied for five years at the Royal Academy under John Singer Sargent and Sir William Orpen and won the prestigious Royal Academy medal for portrait painting. Jerrold-Nathan also studied briefly in Paris. He served during World War One and arrived in Australia in 1924, on doctor's advice after contracting malaria from his posting during the War in Salonica. Upon his arrival in Sydney he joined the Australian Art Society, whose objective was 'to foster a true Australian outlook in art', and became its President from 1945-52.

Known principally for his portraits, Jerrold-Nathan's royal sitters included HM King George VI, HRH The King of Iraq, and HRH Crown Prince of Sweden. Notable Australians included Sir Charles Lloyd Jones, Sir James Murdoch, the poet Dorothea McKellar, and Australia's cricketing great, Sir Donald Bradman.

Jerrold-Nathan's portraits have been collected by institutions and private collectors across Australia and abroad, including Sydney University, Parliament House, Canberra, and the New England Regional Art Museum collection in Armidale. He continued to paint and teach portrait painting from his studio in Turramurra, until shortly before his death in 1979 at the age of 90.

This portrait depicts Mrs Celie Dale, daughter of Hugh Wyndham, owner of Dalwood Station in the Hunter Valley. The Wyndham name is synonymous with wine making in Australia, Hugh Wyndham having put down the first commercial plantings of Shiraz, and winning Bronze and Silver medals at the prestigious Paris International Exhibition in 1867. Wyndham took up Bukkulla Station near Inverell in 1839, which comprised a massive tract of land covering almost 130,000 acres, and by 1850 carried 300 horses, 2,000 cattle and 7,000 sheep. Celie Wyndham married Mr JT Dale, and was known as a 'fair amateur artist'.

This work was a finalist in the 1956 Archibald Prize and was acquired by the Gallery in 1976.