25 years experience and widely regarded as the world's leading authority on paintings and prints by Russell Flint
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Cecilia Green was the favourite model of Sir William Russell Flint, appearing in many of his paintings in roles which varied from Spanish gypsy to cloistered nun.
Her nude poses - more aesthetic than erotic - were, and remain, famous. At their first meeting in the early 1950s Flint, then aged 72, recognised that her singular beauty - fine cheekbones, slanting eyes and provocative mouth - was the ideal he had had in his mind's eye all his life. (Betjeman was later to sing, "I could not speak for amazement at your beauty".) Moreover, as a trained ballet dancer, she had the suppleness and skill to hold long and difficult poses; Flint was a demanding master.Their association lasted for some 15 years, but she was much more than his model and his inspiration. Flint's wife was confined to a nursing home with arthritis, and Cecilia took over many additional duties, such as dealing with agents, acting as his hostess, and even manicuring his fingernails.
Their relationship was occasionally awkward; Flint could be petty and possessive, and Cecilia was always known for speaking her mind - but it was close, companionable and affectionate; Flint's autumn and Cecilia's spring complemented one another wonderfully.
Despite rumours at the time, their relationship was chaste. Flint's diaries show that he was passionate about Cecilia, but he was always the essence of propriety - though once, in a wild moment, he proposed marriage. Cecilia reciprocated his love, but saw him as a kindly uncle rather than a swain.
Perhaps the most revealing episode came at their parting, when Cecilia, bored with the discomforts of modelling, left to take up a new career in 1966. Flint's diaries record his despair. Cecilia tried to keep in occasional touch but, on her last telephone call shortly after she left, he refused to speak to her. Though Cecilia never forgot the hurt his bitterness caused her - and regretted that she had not handled the situation more gently - she always spoke of him with affection and respect. Flint died in 1969.
Cecilia Green, the only child of garment workers of Russian-Jewish extraction, was born at Hackney, in the East End of London, on August 29 1931. In childhood she suffered from malnutrition, which caused rickets in the legs and thighs. That her legs in adulthood were extremely shapely, as Flint showed, must be attributed rather to her later ballet training than to early treatment, for no one could persuade her to keep her splints on.
She was herself a fine painter, and produced lively and witty watercolours which she would describe as her "caprices". In her Rape of the Sabines, the aggressors are women; and she had the playful notion of representing Flint painting a group of naked washerwomen in Piccadilly Circus. When her last painting, Brolly Ballet, was being prepared as a limited print, she had to remind the publishers that if they took too long she would not be around to sign the copies personally.
Originally Cecilia Green trained for the ballet, and danced successfully for the London Festival Ballet; but after a recurrence of childhood tuberculosis she was unable to return to her career. At 21, having decided to become an artist's model, she turned up on Flint's doorstep, initiating their long association.
In 1958 she married John Simmons, the fine art consultant and connoisseur, but continued to model for Flint until 1966, when she and John were "adopted" by Baron Leo Bensilum, an ebullient and dominating oil company executive. Cecilia found his extrovert personality the very opposite of the shy, retiring Flint, and was to work for him as his personal assistant until he retired.
In her later years, Cecilia Green retained her beauty. She deepened her enjoyment in the visual arts, the ballet and the opera, while her loving nature was expressed through the care she showed for her husband and through her warm friendships. Although discriminating in choosing her friends, when she met a fellow spirit there was no doubt about her affections.
Towards the end she would sometimes speak of her envy for those who had religious faith. But her picture of a vengeful Old Testament God had been imprinted too early to be eradicated.
Her husband survives her.
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Sir William Russell Flint, was born in Edinburgh on the fourth of April Eighteen eighty.
His father Francis Wighton Flint, was a watercolourist and designer,
William Russell Flint was fortunate that his family was involved in artistic careers. He studied at Daniel Stewarts School,
and then joined the Royal Institution College of Artwork in Edinburgh, this was the environment that led him to work on line and colour
which progressed into his own unmistakable watercolour style.
His six year apprenticeship as a draughtsman at a large printing factory in Edinburgh, helped to cultivate the disipline required
to become an outstanding artist in his own right.
In 1903 Russell Flint began work at the Illustrated London News drawing illustrations.
This was the era before photos, a time where drawings and engravings have been the only source of illustration for books and magazines.
During this period and WW1, Russell Flint also produced illustrations for some great classic writings such as "Thomas a Kempis",
"The Song of Solomon", Mallory's "Morte d'Arthur", Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" and Homer's "Odyssey".
Throughout the conflict, Flint was in the Royal Navy Air Service and by 1918 he was promoted to Admiralty Assistant Overseer;
He was able to travel back to Scotland where he studied at the art School.
1936 saw Russell Flint become the President of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour. Throughout the early 1940s, Russell and Sybil Flint went to live in Devon on a farm that reared poultry. Having served in the RAF, he was allowed to visit Devonport Dockyard,( of which a limited edition has been published, and was described as a masterpiece of perspective) and paint, whenever he wished.
In 1945 William Russell Flint and his wife Sybil returned to their home at Peel Cottage, Campden Hill, London. 1947 saw Russell Flint knighted and he painted throughout his life until the age of 89 when he died. His work as a professional artist spanned many years and he was later able to create a unique feel to his paintings that produced his most recognizable style. The paintings he produced were less rigid and he was able to show in exquisite detail, the different textures of materials, buildings, and of course, flesh.
Sir William Russell Flint has given and continues to give great joy to many individuals across the world.
His signed limited edition prints and original paintings, have become extremely collectable, and his work enjoys a great following
as some of the finest watercolour paintings in the world today.
He was a much liked architectural, watercolour artist, who was most famous for his paintings of female nudes.In the art world,
Russell Flint was a revered by his colleagues. His father was an industrial artist and as a boy he joined a lithographic company where he spent six years
learning about the printing industry and the many different techniques used. Russell Flint was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in eighteen hundred and eighty,
his gift for painting was soon impressing both his fellow artists and the general public.
During his student days at the Edinburgh Royal Institution Faculty of Artwork, and after working for six years at the lithographic printing company, he made the decision to live in London and work as an illustrator in the world of medicine, and then in 1903 he became an illustrator for the Illustrated London News which , due to worldwide distribution, publicised his work across the globe. In nineteen hundred and five he married an admiral's daughter, Sibylle Sueter in 1905 and his work continued to flourish so that two years later he was able to become a freelance artist which gave him the opportunity to illustrate several classical special editions for example; Mallory's 'Morte D'Arthur', Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' and Homer's 'Odyssey'.
During WW1 his job was the Admiralty assistant overseer of Airships . He returned to his birthplace of Scotland, and some years later painted a watercolour titled ' Hilda's Bonnet' on a small piece of material from HM Airship 24 which he had been in charge.
After the Geat War, Russell Flint's creative profession started to bloom. He travelled in France and Spain, the place he painted beautiful pictures showing the local landscapes and regional way of life.
In 1924 he was asked to join the Royal Academy as an associate member, and nine years laterhe was given the status of full member in 1933. Three years later he became President of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour. Leaving their home in Devon, where they had lived throughout the Great War, Russell Flint and Syblle decided to return to Campden Hill, London, which proved a tremendous success for Russell Flint as the nation was begining to recover from the years of war, and begining to enjoy the arts once more.
His expertise with the watercolour medium and his talent in painting nudes, created an unique manner of painting which became world famous.
William Russell Flint was made Sir William Russell Flint in nineteen forty seven, and fifteen years later his work was given supreme prominence by a retrospective exhibition in the Diploma Gallery of the Royal Academy. During this period, Charles Wheeler, who was the President of the Royal Academy, remarked that Russell Flint's art was an incredible feat and a 'baffling skill'.
In his later years, due to his artistic and financial success, Russell Flint was able to travel extensively across Europe, particularly in France
where he was a prolific painter, also enjoying some time painting in Switzerland, Spain, Italy, and Scotland.
Cornwater Fine Art has specialized in the paintings and prints of Sir William Russell Flint for over thirty years, and have on display over
500 edition prints, signed and unsigned; Also original watercolour paintings and red chalk drawings, for sale.
The limited edition prints, particularly the signed, limited edition prints (ie. pre 1969) were very sought after, and the entire edition could
be sold out within several hours of release.
There is no 'second' edition of these prints, these are the original signed, limited editions that have over the years become highly collectable and
sought after works of art, some of which are over seventy years old.