Exhibition: The Making of the Mottisfont Angel: the Artistic Legacy of Boris Anrep

3 May – 13 July 2025

Boris Anrep and Mottisfont

Boris Anrep was a Russian-born artist and poet, best known in Britain for his mosaics, who developed a deep connection to Mottisfont.

He first visited the estate in the 1930s after being commissioned to paint a portrait of its new owner, Maud Russell.

Maud became Boris's art patron and, after her husband's death, his romantic partner.

Boris immortalised Maud in a stunning mosaic – the medieval-inspired The Angel of Mottisfont – that is a key feature of the house.

After his death in 1969, Maud buried Boris's ashes in the garden at Mottisfont. She continued to establish his artistic legacy by gifting many of his sketches for mosaics, and his correspondence, to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Tate Gallery.

Boris also had connections with many other well-known artists of the time, including members of the Bloomsbury group, whose work sits alongside his in the exhibition.

About the exhibition

The exhibition is split across three rooms.

In the Red Room on the ground floor is Spirit of Reasoning, a mosaic panel made by Boris in 1913 and depicting the Russian ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Visitors can also see a smaller piece embedded into the south wall of this room. The Holy Trinity was commissioned by Maud Russell for Mottisfont in 1945 and was made in Anrep's Hampstead studio with Maud visiting to see it being set in cement. 

The second and third rooms are in the top floor gallery. The first of these focuses on Boris’s early life and his artistic connections, in particular his links to members of the Bloomsbury group. Works on display here include paintings and other items by Bloomsbury group members Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry and Duncan Grant, including a table made by Fry’s Omega Workshop.

Portraits by celebrated Welsh artist Augustus John also feature, as well as a painting of Wiltshire country house Biddesden by Derek Hill, where Anrep completed a commission of his own. A photograph by art patron Ottoline Morrell shows Anrep at her Oxfordshire home Garsington Manor, which provided a haven for artists during the First World War. 

In the second gallery space, visitors can learn about Boris's connections to Mottisfont from the 1930s onwards, and his relationship with owner Maud Russell. Boris's first portrait of Maud, Mrs Gilbert Russell, Sitting in Bed, forms part of the display, along with a portrait by Ambrose McEvoy and a sketch of Maud as 'Folly'. This is one of the Modern Virtues that make up Boris's mosaic floor in the National Gallery, and which was funded by Maud.

Visitors can also see some of Maud’s scrapbooks and photo albums showing Boris at Mottisfont, as well as a striking portrait of Boris seated in front of one of his own works.