Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, OM, RA (British, 1836-1912)Portrait study of Mrs Mahala Coltonsigned, inscribed and dated 'L Alma Tadema/with a happy new year/to Mrs Mahala Colton/L. 1905' (lower right)watercolour16x 19cm(6 5/16x 7 1/2in).For further information on this lot please visit theArtist or Maker: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, OM, RA (British, 1836-1912)Provenance: ProvenancePrivate collection, UK.The sitter of this intimate study is Mahala Colton (1878-1963), wife of the art dealer Charles Colton whose brother was the sculptor William Robert Colton. William Colton was a member of the Royal Academy and President of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, and a close neighbour of Alma-Tadema in St. John's Wood, London. It can therefore be suggested that the connection between artist and sitter was made through her brother-in-law who would have no doubt known Alma-Tadema personally.A letter from the artist to Mrs Colton, dated 3 January 1905, reads:'My Dear Mrs Colton,I have obeyed your wishes & made a little sketch in your book and wished you under the drawing a happy new year, but now I don't know how to send it to you, as post & parcel delivery might spoil or lose it & the book is too nice for that; so I write to ask you toe and fetch it when you are in town in this neighbourhood or can you suggest another way.With bestpliments of the seasonI remainYours very trulyL Alma Tadema'