Lady Agnew of Lochnaw

Lady Agnew of Lochnaw
Artist	John Singer Sargent
Year	1892
Type	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	127 cm × 101 cm (50 in × 40 in)
Location	Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

Lady Agnew of Lochnaw is an oil on canvas portrait painting of Lady Gertrude Agnew, the wife of Sir Andrew Agnew, 9th Baronet. The painting was commissioned and completed in 1892 by the American portrait artist John Singer Sargent. It measures at 127 × 101 cm (50.0 × 39.8 in) and is owned by the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. The museum acquired it through the Cowan Smith Bequest Fund in 1925.

Background

Lady Gertrude Agnew (née Vernon) was born in 1865, the daughter of the Hon. Gowran Vernon and granddaughter of Robert Vernon, 1st Baron Lyveden. She married Sir Andrew Agnew, 9th Baronet of Lochnaw Castle in 1889. A few years later, during 1892, he commissioned John Singer Sargent to paint her portrait. The success of the painting endowed Lady Agnew with additional notability and prestige. There is speculation that the family may have met with financial difficulties resulting in an attempt to sell the painting to the Trustees of the Frick Collection in 1922 but the offer was rejected by Helen Clay Frick. Lady Agnew died in London in April 1932 after suffering ill health for a long time.

Description

Lady Agnew is seated in an 18th-century French Bergère and, according to art historian Richard Ormond, the back of the chair is used as a "curving, supporting space to contain the figure, creating a distinctive, languid elegance". Sargent pictured Lady Agnew in a three-quarter length pose, dressed in a white gown with a silk mauve sash as an accessory round her waist. The wall behind her is draped with Chinese silk of a blue colour. She looks directly and appraisingly, her expression capturing the impression she is participating in an "intimate conversation" with those observing the painting. Ormond and Kilmurray remark that Lady Agnew was convalescing from influenza at the time, which may account for the languor in her pose. They describe her gaze as "quietly challenging" and "something withheld and inviting in her quizzical half-smile".

The oil on canvas measures 127 × 101 cm (50.0 × 39.8 in). The portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, in 1893 and may have been influential in the artist's acceptance as an associate of the Academy the following January. According to an unattributed article in The Times dated 29 April 1893, the portrait was "not only a triumph of technique but the finest example of portraiture, in the literal sense of the word, that has been seen here for a long time. While Mr Sargent has abandoned none of his subtlety, he has abandoned his mannerisms, and has been content to make a beautiful picture of a charming subject, under conditions of repose." The writer also felt it was a "masterpiece". Other exhibitions it featured in were at Boston's Copley Hall in 1899 and the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh during 1924.

According to the Scottish National Gallery, "the cumulative cost of sustaining celebrity with style obliged Lady Agnew to sell her own portrait". It was acquired by the gallery with assistance from the Cowan Smith Bequest Fund in 1925. There are two letters from Lady Agnew about the sale of the painting in the gallery's archives. After the gallery was extended around 1978, the additional area allowed space for the portrait to be displayed.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

• A Companion Guide to the Scottish National Gallery, Introduction by Michael Clarke, National Galleries of Scotland, 2013, ISBN 978-1-903278-11-6{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
• Downes, William Howe (1925), John S. Sargent: His Life and Work, Little, Brown – via Questia Online Library {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
• Herdrich, Stephanie L.; Weinberg, Helene Barbara; Shelley, Marjorie (2000), American Drawings and Watercolors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: John Singer Sargent, Metropolitan Museum of Art, ISBN 978-0-87099-952-9 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Ormond, Richard; Kilmurray, Elaine (1998), John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits; The Complete Paintings: Volume I, Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-07245-7
• Ormond, Richard; Kilmurray, Elaine (2002), John Singer Sargent: Portraits of the 1890s; The Complete Paintings: Volume II, Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-09067-3
• Roberts, Keith (1979), "Edinburgh and London", The Burlington Magazine, 121 (910), Burlington Magazine Publications, JSTOR 879488 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
• Weinberg, Helene Barbara; Herdrich, Stephanie L. (2000), "John Singer Sargent: In the Metropolitan Museum of Art", The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 57 (4), Metropolitan Museum of Art, JSTOR 3269083 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)