Norine Fournier Lattimore (née Schofield; 11 March 1894Whittington-Egan, Richard (1972), The Ordeal of Philip Yale Drew: A Real Life Murder Melodrama in Three Acts. London: Harrap, p. 259. . – 8 August 1934), known as Dolores, was an artists' model who was a fixture on London's bohemian scene between the First and Second World Wars. She posed for Jacob Epstein, for whom she played the role of "the High Priestess of Beauty" and who called her "the Phryne of modern times".Epstein, Jacob. (1940) Let There Be Sculpture. New York: Putnam, pp. 81–82. The Hearst Press in America, who sensationally serialised her life story, called her The "Fatal Woman' of the London Studios". She was a contemporary of Betty May, Euphemia Lamb and Lilian Shelley.

Early life

Norine Schofield was born at 23 Doughty Street, London, on 11 March 1894. In the British census of 31 March 1901, Norine is shown as aged 8 and living at 73 St Paul's Road, Islington with her father George E. Schofield (aged 37, described as a "vocalist"), her mother Maria (37, a French subject), her half-brother Leopole Kershaw (19), half-sister Melfredine Kershaw (actress, 17), half-sister Yvonne Kershaw (11) and her sister Mabel Schofield (3). According to the census, all of Norine's half-siblings were born in Rochdale, Lancashire, Mabel was born in London and her father was born in Ashton-under-Lyne.1901 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription. findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 13 September 2014.

Norine's father, George Edwin Schofield, had a career as a professional dancer, had sung at the opera and was said to have provided the finance for several stage productions. By the time of Norine's death he had become the Reverend Schofield."Dolores Dies In Poverty", Daily Express, 9 August 1934, p. 1. Her mother was Vicomtesse Marie Honorine Melfredine de Fournier who was half French and half Spanish, Norine being the diminutive of Honorine. Norine would later claim to be the granddaughter of General Count Fournier.

Norine attended Tiller's Dancing School at the same time as Gaby Deslys and appeared in several Tiller productions as a junior.

Paris and Brussels Some time after leaving the Tiller School, Norine travelled to Paris where she joined the company of L'Opéra Comique run by the ballet mistress Madame Mariquita and it may be around that time that she began to use the name Dolores.

She met Sarah Bernhardt and appeared in the Folies Bergère for impresario André Charlot. She appeared with Adolph Bolm at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels and the Alhambra and danced in front of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II for which he gave her a gold powder-box.

She also danced with Anna Pavlova, and sang in opera and appeared in Ivan the Terrible. Despite her success on the continent, however, Dolores does not seem to have become well known in England until she later became a model for Jacob Epstein.

Frank Amsden

In 1915,England & Wales births 1837–2008 Transcription. findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 20 September 2014. (subscription required) Dolores married Second Lieutenant William Frank Amsden of the Rangers at St Pancras Church, Ipswich,Whittington-Egan, 1972, p. 260. in which town he was stationed."By Dolores, "The Fatal Woman" of the London Studios" Chapter III, The Milwaukee Sentinel, 9 February 1930, pp. 12–13. They later divorced but she returned to him after her second marriage ended. He subsequently killed himself."By Dolores, "The Fatal Woman" of the London Studios" Chapter X, The Milwaukee Sentinel, 30 March 1930, pp. 12–13.

Harry Sadler In 1918, Dolores married her second husband, Captain Richard Harry Farwell Peckover Sadler in Kensington. According to details that were given in court during their divorce proceedings (1924), Sadler met Dolores while he was a cadet in the military and he married her while on leave. After he was demobilised, Sadler discovered that she had been living with Amsden but he forgave her. Later he left her and subsequently discovered that she was living with an older man (probably Jacob Epstein). After that, probably in a staged discovery to facilitate a divorce, he went to a house in Cranley Gardens with a solicitor's clerk at which he found Dolores in a bedroom with a man called Edward Bonneymead. Sadler's petition for divorce was not defended and he was granted decree nisi."Twice Forgiven", Daily Mirror, 18 November 1924, p. 19.

Bohemian London

Dolores was a fixture in the inter-war years in London's bohemian circles. She sang and danced at Madame Strindberg's The Cave of the Golden Calf (1912–14),Epstein, 1940, p. 99. was a regular at the Fitzroy Tavern and knew Betty May, Lilian Shelley and the artistic group that they mixed with. Dolores was of striking appearance, noted for her black hair and white skin and the black dress that she usually wore. Like May and Shelley, Dolores used the Fitzroy and the other pubs and clubs frequented by the circle to network for performing or modelling jobs and it was at the Cave of the Golden Calf that she was discovered as an artists' model by Jacob Epstein. The Cave featured frescoes by Epstein.Waddell, Nathan. (2013) "Bohemian Retrospects: Ford Madox Ford, Post-War Memory and the Cabaret Theatre Club" in She also sat for Nina Hamnett,Fiber, Sally, & Clive Powell-Williams. (1995) The Fitzroy: The Autobiography of a London Tavern. Lewes: Temple House Books, p. 27. C. R. W. Nevinson (1924),"To-Day's Gossip: Next Nevinson Show", Daily Mirror, 4 February 1924, p. 9. John Flanagan (1925)Dolores by John Flanagan. BBC Your Paintings. Retrieved 19 September 2014. and Jacob Kramer."A considerable work: Kramer in the east end", Bernard Brett, The Yorkshire Post, 17 October 1938, p. 6.

Another place that Dolores knew well was the Harlequin Club, at 55 Beak Street, off Regent Street. It became a popular haunt of the poorer bohemians around the 1920s. William Roberts remembered in his posthumously published (1990) memoirs the Harlequin's female customers "whose vocal talents turned the place at times into a sort of Café Chantant, when the dark-skinned Helene sang the 'Raggle-Taggle Gypsies, O!' or Gypsy Lang sang Casey Jones the engine-driver's lament; with the vivacious Betty May, called the Tiger Woman, together with Dolores and the Snake Charmer (so called from her habit of carrying around a small basket of snakes) joining in the chorus."Roberts, William. (1990) "The 'Twenties'" in Five Posthumous Essays and Other Writings. Valencia: Artes Graficas Soler.

Jacob Epstein

Dolores first modelled for Jacob Epstein in 1921, and moved in with him and his wife Margaret at Guilford Street in 1922. She stayed until 1925 and Epstein made six studies of her. Margaret Epstein was trying to end her husband's affair with Kathleen Garman, who eventually became his second wife, by encouraging him into affairs with other women but although Epstein found Dolores beautiful, he apparently had no romantic interest in her.Gardiner, Stephen. (1993) Epstein: Artist Against the Establishment. London: Flamingo, p. 228. The Epsteins were generous to Dolores, paying for everything, to keep her from leaving. She became, in her own words, "a happy prisoner in Guilford Street" and it was the association with Epstein, who was frequently in the papers, combined with her own talent for self-promotion, that made Dolores famous.Gardiner, 1993, pp. 229–233.

Epstein thought his first study of Dolores a failure but later came to appreciate it and cast it in bronze, after which it entered the Tate Gallery, London. Of the second bust, he said: "Dolores was a model who was extremely suggestible, and after I made this bust, she always strutted about, keeping her arms folded in the pose of the bust, and with the same tragic and aloof expression fixed upon her face, and she took great care that she never relaxed into those careless smiles of the first head. In the studio she was the devoted model, never allowing anything to interfere with posing, taking it seriously; a religious rite. She became the High Priestess of Beauty".

In 1925 Jacob Epstein completed Rima, a memorial to the American naturalist W. H. Hudson, situated in the W. H. Hudson Memorial bird sanctuary in Hyde Park. The sculpture was unveiled to very strong criticism, including a campaign to have it removed. It was one of the pieces of modern art lampooned in the stage show The Lost Duchess at London's Aldwych Theatre. When Frank Worthington, the producer of the show, came on stage at the end, he was pelted with eggs and tomatoes by Dolores and Anita Patel protesting at the show's criticism of Epstein."Why the Lovely Dolores Threw Eggs at the Actors", Elizabeth Shields, The Times Recorder, 10 January 1926. Dolores was the model for Rima, and Anita was the sister of Sunita Devi, another of Epstein's models.Gardiner, 1993, p. 261. Dolores was also the model for The Weeping Woman.

"The Empty Easel" In 1922-23, Dolores appeared in The Nine O'Clock Review at the Little Theatre and in 1923–24 in the sequel The Little Review.Whittington-Egan, 1972, p. 263. The later show had a sketch specially written for her titled "The Empty Easel" in which Dolores posed as famous women in art, including the Mona Lisa, Venus from Titian's Venus and Adonis, Sarah Siddons and herself."To-Day's Gossip: Famous Model in Revue", Daily Mirror, 7 July 1924.

No stockings In fashion, Dolores modelled for Norman Hartnell's first show in 1924. It was the first time she had appeared as a fashion model. Hartnell remembered in his autobiography Silver and Gold that "My show fascinated the old Daily Graphic to the extent of a whole column about Dolores, Epstein's model, who wore some of my specially statuesque dresses".Hartnell, Norman. (1955) Silver and Gold. London: Evans Bros, p. 40.

The 'Daily Express reported that "She made a sensational entry ... a chocolate-coloured page dressed in a glittering suit of gold brocade announced that she had arrived. Grey curtains were parted for her, and as she came between them she dazzled the eyes of the audience for she wore no fewer than £25,000 worth of diamonds and pearls lent by a Bond Street jeweller. Two detectives stood by ... she was attired in a wonderful steel coloured brocade evening-wrap lined with vivid rose, an excellent contrast to her dark olive skin and pansy brown eyes. When she shed her cloak she showed a simple white satin gown draped around her. She wore gold shoes but no stockings, for she never wears stockings.""Epstein's Woman Model. Dolores as Mannequin in a Dress Show. No Stockings.", Daily Express, 28 February 1924, p. 7.

George Lattimore

Dolores' third marriage was to the American lawyer, orchestra manager, and film and theatrical producer George Lattimore in London in 1926.England & Wales marriages 1837–2008 Transcription. findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2014. The marriage was described as "secret" in more than one American newspaper. Lattimore had come to Britain in 1919 as the manager of the Southern Syncopated Orchestra which was one of the first orchestras to introduce jazz to Britain. He toured with the orchestra and was responsible for several films and musical events at the Philharmonic Hall in the early 1920s. Dolores lost her British nationality with the marriage which subsequently caused her minor difficulties with the law.Whittington-Egan, 1972, p. 269. The couple quickly separated but never divorced.Whittington-Egan, 1972, p. 261.

Also in 1926, Dolores had a minor role in Riki Tiki at the Gaiety Theatre in London. The show lasted just two weeks after being badly received."London As It Looks", Variety, 5 May 1926, pp. 34–35. She followed this with a dancing act with a partner in the music halls.

Suicide of Frederick Atkinson