John Lane

The subject of the painting, John Lane (1854-1925) was born on 14 March 1854 at West Putford, north Devon. He is best known as a publisher who was responsible for publishing the works of literary figures in the late Victorian period and early decades of the 20th century, under the imprint of the Bodley Head. One of the firm’s most famous production was The Yellow Book, an illustrated quarterly edited initially by Aubrey Beardsley, the English illustrator and author. In 1925 John Lane bequeathed to RAMM a large number of paintings, watercolours and prints from his private collection. The artist Ernest L.Ipsen was a talented and versatile American portraitist who loved textures.