Cecil Beaton, (British, 1904-1980)

Costume Design for Vanessa

Costume Design for Vanessa
watercolour and gouache on paper, with fabric swatches
31.5 x 19cm (12 3/8 x 7 1/2in).
Painted circa 1958

Provenance
Sale; Christie's, London, Cecil Beaton, 21 June 1988, lot 47, where acquired by the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

Vanessa, an opera by Samuel Barber, was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1958, in a production designed by Cecil Beaton. Beaton's sets for the opera were sadly later destroyed in a fire in 1973.