> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://theparnassian.com/en/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Had a small dispute with ArtUK and National Trust Collections over Sir James Jebusa Shannon's 1918 portrait of Violet Lindsay, Duchess of Rutland (1856-1937)
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/vstupil-v-nebolshoi-spor-s-artuk-i-nationaltrustcollections-o-portrete-vaiolet-lindsei-gertsogini-ratlend-1856-1937-raboty-sera-dzheimsa-dzhebusa-shennona-1918-g/
- Published: 2021-01-07T12:47:07.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:41:44.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Aristocracy, Art, London, Museums, Observations

Had a small dispute with ArtUK and National Trust Collections over Sir James Jebusa Shannon's 1918 portrait of Violet Lindsay, Duchess of Rutland (1856-1937). The cause of my displeasure is the description of the work, which states that in this exotic portrait Lady Violet, her hands dramatically clasped, wears a headdress in the style of Mucha. Naturally, Alphonse Mucha and his Art Nouveau never so much as passed by. I am sure that to a Russian viewer it is obvious: the Duchess of Rutland is dressed in a stylised Russian national costume, and on her head is no Muchaesque headpiece at all but a genuine kokoshnik. In those years the Russian style was thoroughly well known in Europe, and in London high society too, thanks to Anna Pavlova, who appeared regularly at balls and private parties in Russian costume, some of it designed by Bilibin, and did so even in the presence of King Edward VI. And Violet Lindsay herself was on friendly terms with the society lady Amélie Louise Rives, wife of Prince Pyotr Trubetskoy, which could not fail to bring Russian aristocratic habits into their immediate circle

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_3745@07-01-2021_15-47-07.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_3746@07-01-2021_15-47-07.jpg)