LONDON.- A wartime portrait of Thelma Bader, wife of the legendary pilot Douglas Bader, comes for sale as part of Lyon & Turnbull's Modern Made auction at The Mall Galleries, London on Friday October 29. It was painted by the British artist David Jagger (1891-1958) in 1942 while Wing Commander Bader was a prisoner of war.

Jagger was at the height of his fame on the outbreak of the Second World War and the uncertainties of war-time London did little to diminish his output. In addition to a notable portrait of Winston Churchill (1939) he painted a select group of portraits of female sitters to “reflect strength and fortitude during a time of adversity”. These included theatre and film actress, Vivien Leigh; Dorothy Hyson, the Bletchley Park cryptographer; and the Anglo-Australian concert pianist Eileen Joyce. Some were reproduced as cover images for the popular magazine Women’s Journal.

This striking portrait of Olive ‘Thelma’ Exley Bader (1907-1971), that provided the cover image in May 1942, was painted at a point when the country was in the depth of the conflict and her husband was being held as a prisoner of war. Most of Jagger’s portrait sittings were conducted in his Chelsea studio but it had been virtually destroyed during the Blitz so the portrait was painted at the Bader’s home in Bagshot, Surrey.

It formed part of the joint summer exhibition held by the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Institute of OiI Painters at the Suffolk Street Galleries, London in 1942. It comes for sale from a gentleman in Glasgow with an estimate of £7,000-9,000 + fees.

Douglas Bader (1910-82) had become a legend and inspiration for his skill and dogged determination: he refused to let the loss of both his legs following a plane crash in 1931 prevent him flying Spitfires during the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. He was given the command of No. 242 Squadron which brought down 67 enemy aircraft although his luck ran out during a mission over France in 1941, when his plane was damaged. After capture, he made multiple escape attempts from prisons including Stalag Luft III (the scene of the Great Escape) before ending up in Colditz from where he was freed in 1945.