A submission from one of my dear followers of impeccable taste, who suggested it as a romantic addit
A submission from one of my dear followers of impeccable taste, who suggested it as a romantic addition to my collection - a truly charming picture, I agree! There’s a little contradiction over who the photograph does show - there’s no doubt that the lap-sitting young chap is Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, famed as much for his relationship with Oscar Wilde as for his writing, but some credit the other fellow as Francis Douglas, while a library collection and well-researched book state confidently that he is Maurice Schwabe. I’m hesitant to say for certain, but it is a lovely photograph either way! [edit, one year later]I have recieved further illuminating information, as follows -…regarding the mystery surrounding the photos of Bosie with a man variously identified as his brother Francis, Maurice Schwabe or simply 'a companion’ - in 1930 Bosie himself informed William A Clark, founder of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library which now holds an important collection of documents including the Lord Alfred Douglas Collection: “The boy with me in the photograph was Maurice Salis Schwabe who was a friend of mine for many years. He was killed in the war. His father was Colonel Schwabe who commanded the 16th Lancers, & afterwards, as General Schwabe, was governor of Chelsea Hospital. Maurice was the same age as myself, though he was not at Oxford. The photograph was rather by way of being a joke, though really I forgot what the idea was now.“ -- source link
#vintage photograph#victorian#victorian men#pair portrait#affectionate men#submission