Maud Nelke

Maud Julia Augusta Russell (née Nelke; (7 November 1891 – 27 May 1982) was a British socialite and art patron, who aided Jewish relatives in their escape from Nazi Germany during the 1930s.[1]

Maud Julia Augusta Russell
Angel mosaic by Boris Anrep, with the face of Maud Russell, his patron. In an outdoor niche at Mottisfont Abbey.
Born
Maud Julia Augusta Nelke

(1891-11-07)7 November 1891
Chelsea, London, England
Died27 May 1982(1982-05-27) (aged 90)
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1917; died 1942)​
Children

Family

The daughter of Maria and Paul Nelke, German Jewish immigrants, Maud grew up in London in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1917 married Gilbert Byng Alwyne Russell, a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards. Maud's father, Paul Nelke, later helped Gilbert create the merchant banking firm Cull & Company. They had two sons; Martin Basil Paul Russell, eccentric banker, collector and a patron of Sri Lankan Cubism[2] (1918-2003)[3] and Raymond Anthony Russell. When Gilbert died in 1942 she wrote in her diary: "The main, the fullest, the richest and the most feeling part of life ended with him" [1]

War Diaries

Maud was an avid reader and maintained a beautifully written diary throughout her life. Her diaries, recently uncovered and published, provide a rare record of the development of the war from Maud's perspective.

"She was unfortunate enough to live through both World Wars, suffering from anti-German sentiment during the Great War and helping her Jewish relations to escape Germany in the 1930s. From 1943-1945 she worked on secret propaganda activities at the Admiralty"[1]

Art and Architecture

Maud remains one of the foremost English collectors of modern French art,[4] and enjoyed a friendship with artists such as Boris Anrep of whom she was patron[5]and eventually executrix of his will.[6] Maud was one of the patrons for Boris Anrep's Modern Virtues, a collection of colourful mosaics which decorate the imposing staircase built by Sir John Taylor in 1887 for the entrance hall of the National Gallery, her name and portrait are expressed as the personification of Folly. Rex Whistler was another, who painted the namesake Whistler Drawing Room at Mottisfont in his famous trompe-l'œil style.[7] She also shared a particularly close relationship with Ian Fleming, to whom she notably gave a gunmetal-finished, gold cigarette case which is thought to have been the inspiration for Red Grant's "oval gold cigarette case" in From Russia with Love .[8] Ian had also worked at Cull & Company.[9]

Maud and Gilbert bought Mottisfont Abbey in 1934,[10] and remodelled it from a building in ruin to a modern estate with the help of her artist friends. In 1957, she gifted the house and grounds to the National Trust but continued to live at Mottisfont until 1972.[11] It was nominated a Grade I listed building in 1957,[12] with the 1938-9 Rex Whistler drawing room a named feature of the listing.

Portraits
  • c.1914 Miss Maude Nelke (Oil on canvas). Sir William Nicholson (English, 1872-1949). Ferens Art Gallery[13]
  • Date Unknown (pencil) John Singer Sargent [1]
  • Date Unknown, Maud as a young woman (Oil on canvas). Ambrose McEvoy. Private Collection [1]
  • Early 1930s, (Photograph) Cecil Beaton for Vogue Magazine
  • c. 1934-35 Mrs Gilbert Russell, Sitting in Bed (Oil on canvas). Boris Anrep (Russian, 1883-1969). V&A Museum[5]
  • 1937, (Charcoal drawing) Henri Matisse (French, 1869-54) [1]
  • 1946 Maud Russell Angel of Mottisfont (Mosaic) Boris Anrep (Russian, 1883-1969). Mottisfont Abbey
  • 1952 Folly, (Mosaic) Boris Anrep (Russian, 1883-1969) National Gallery. [14]
  • Date Unknown Maud Russell (Drawing) Derek Hill (British, 1916-2000) Mottisfont, Hampshire (Accredited Museum)[15]


  • 1946, Maud Russell 'Angel of Mottisfont' by Boris Anrep
  • 1938-9, Trompe-l'œil at Mottisfont Abbey, Rex Whistler
  • 1952, National Gallery 'Modern Virtues' by Boris Anrep
  • Mottisfont Abbey, Maud's home with husband Gilbert
  • The secret door at Mottisfont

References
  1. Russell, Maud, 1891-1982 (2017). A constant heart : the war diaries of Maud Russell, 1938-1945. Russell, Emily. Wimborne Minster, Dorset. ISBN 978-0-9929151-8-6. OCLC 986449447.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. "Martin Russell". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  3. "Martin Russell Obituary". 2004-03-09. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  4. www.thejc.com https://www.thejc.com/maud-russell-family-history-1.438007. Retrieved 2020-03-21. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. "Mrs Gilbert Russell, Sitting in Bed | Anrep, Boris | V&A Search the Collections". V and A Collections. 2020-03-21. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  6. Tate. "'Varvara Theodossieva', Boris Anrep, 1906". Tate. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  7. "The Whistler Room, Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire". National Trust Prints. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  8. "The Love of a Constant Heart". Ian Fleming. 2017-06-02. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  9. Hellman, Geoffrey T. "James Bond Comes to New York". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  10. "Maud Russell at Mottisfont". National Trust. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  11. "Meet the Russells at Mottisfont". National Trust.
  12. "MOTTISFONT ABBEY HOUSE, Mottisfont - 1093730 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  13. "Miss Maude Nelke (d.1982) | Art UK". www.artuk.org. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  14. "Boris Anrep mosaics at the National Gallery, London". www.thejoyofshards.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  15. "Maud Russell (1891 - 1982)". National Trust Collections. Retrieved 1 May 2020.

Bibliography
  • Russell, Maud (1891-1982) A constant heart: The war diaries of Maud Russell, 1938-1945 (2017) Edited by Emily Russell ISBN
  • Pile, Jonathan (2012). Churchill's Secret Enemy. Jonathan Pile. ISBN 978-1-4716-4180-0.
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