I have written about this painting many times. It is one of my favourites in the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery Collection. It is Dora Carrington at her finest, projecting her own feelings onto the portrait of the Cornish farmer, Mrs Box.
Carrington first met Mrs Box in 1917. She was on holiday in Cornwall with Lytton Strachey and friends. After finding their initial accommodation a real ‘pigsty of a farm’ and enduring multiple flea bites, they contacted neighbouring farms to find somewhere else to stay. Mrs Box at Home Farm, Welcombe responded and the party moved to her ‘simply perfect’ farm.
Carrington writes to her friend Barbara ‘ I am so happy here. Almost a headache every morning because I get so tired and exhausted. Simply loving so hard! The sea has yellow sands and big rocks and there are valleys such as you never saw with rivulets which flow down to the sea and green forests on the hills. It is surely one of the best places in England. I am painting old Mere Box who is 70, an amazing old Lady, who wears a pink bonnet and curious garments. Miss Box and her sister and brother keep the fa