Kathleen Newton
Kathleen Irene Ashburnham Newton (née Kelly; 1854–1882) was an Irish-British model, best known for her many sittings with the French artist James Tissot.
Her artistic relationship with Tissot quickly turned into a romantic one, and the two lived together, representing themselves as a married couple, for the rest of her life, which was cut short by tuberculosis.
[1][2]: 125 Although Tissot's contemporary audience understood his relationship with Newton, biography published during his lifetime did not mention her, and magazine coverage of his work only discussed her obliquely.
Her father, Charles Frederick Ashburnham Kelly, was employed in the Honourable East India Company's Civil Service and at his marriage in 1838 was a Clerk in the Collector's Office, Agra.
[13] After their arrival in Bombay on 2 September 1870,[14] Palliser joined his ship while Kathleen travelled north with George and his new wife Kate to their home in Ludhiana, Punjab.
[27] Little is recorded about Kathleen until 21 March 1876, when she gave birth in London to a son, Cecil George Newton, at 6 (now 12) Hill Road, St John's Wood.
Some writers have speculated that Cecil was fathered by the anglophile French artist James Tissot, who was living within a short distance at 17 (now 44) Grove End Road, but this is unlikely.
After his involvement in the events of the 1871 Paris Commune,[32] he was offered work in London, where he found eager buyers for his pictures and was able, by late 1872, to buy a house in Grove End Road.
According to Kathleen's niece Lilian Hervey, Tissot "could scarcely help noticing the pretty Mrs Newton" going past his house and "called to ask if he might paint her portrait.
"[34] Her children remained at Hill Road with their aunt, cousins, and shared nanny, but visited Tissot's house for picnics and entertainment.
He described her, in his 1906 Tissot biography, as "a ravishing Irishwoman," "delightful," "educated and distinguished, tall and slim, with superb blue eyes and long golden hair.
"[38] Tissot titled one of his etched portraits Mavourneen, a term of endearment derived from the Irish "mo mhuirnín" ("my dear one"), which featured in a popular Victorian sentimental song, Kathleen Mavourneen,[39] as well as a play of the same title by William Travers revived in July 1876 at London's Globe Theatre, in which "Kathleen O'Connor, an Irish farm girl who dreams of becoming mistress of the local squire's great house, is offered a beautiful coat by the squire's sister.
[41] Tissot's paintings and prints of 1877 through 1881 include images of travel along the Thames or south coast and to Paris, but many focus on Kathleen relaxing and reading in the garden, or surrounded by visiting children.
Tissot made her illness apparent in several paintings from 1881–1882, and he based an 1882 etching on a photo of her sitting well-wrapped next to him outdoors, in line with the tuberculosis management practices of the time.
