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Lady Agnew of Lochnaw

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Lady Agnew of Lochnaw
ArtistJohn Singer Sargent
Year1892
TypeOil on canvas
Dimensions127 cm × 101 cm (50 in × 40 in)
LocationScottish 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,[1] the daughter of the Hon. Gowran Vernon and granddaughter of Robert Vernon, 1st Baron Lyveden.[2] She married Sir Andrew Agnew, 9th Baronet of Lochnaw Castle in 1889.[3] A few years later, during 1892, he commissioned John Singer Sargent to paint her portrait.[1] The success of the painting endowed Lady Agnew with additional notability and prestige.[4] 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.[5][a] Lady Agnew died in London in April 1932 after suffering ill health for a long time.[2][7]

Description

Lady Agnew is seated to one side in a Louis Quinze-style bergère, one of several that Sargent kept in his studio.[8][5] According to art historian Richard Ormond,[9] the back of the chair is used as a "curving, supporting space to contain the figure, creating a distinctive, languid elegance".[10] 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.[11] The wall behind her is draped with Chinese silk of a blue colour.[5] She looks directly and appraisingly, her expression capturing the impression she is participating in an "intimate conversation" with those observing the painting.[5] 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, something withheld in the quizzical half-smile.[12]

The oil on canvas measures 127 × 101 cm (50.0 × 39.8 in).[13] 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.[14] 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."[15] The writer also felt it was a "masterpiece".[15] Other exhibitions it featured in were at Boston's Copley Hall in 1899 and the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh during 1924.[11] It was acquired by the Scottish National Gallery with assistance from the Cowan Smith Bequest Fund in 1925.[16] After the gallery was extended around 1978, the additional area allowed space for the portrait to be displayed.[17]


References

Notes

  1. ^ The source states Lady Agnew was a widow at the time of the offer in 1922 but her husband did not die until 1928[6]

Citations

  1. ^ a b Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1865–1932), Scottish National Gallery, archived from the original on 10 August 2014, retrieved 10 August 2014 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b "Late Lady Agnew", Edinburgh Evening News, no. 18408, p. 9, 6 April 1932, retrieved 10 August 2014 – via British Newspaper Archive {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "The New Members", London Standard, no. 23800, p. 2, 6 October 1900, retrieved 10 August 2014 – via British Newspaper Archive {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Herdrich, Weinberg & Shelley (2000), p. 209.
  5. ^ a b c d Frick Collection launches American tour, Frick, pp. 5–6, archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2014, retrieved 11 August 2014 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Death of former Edinburgh MP", Dundee Courier, no. 23436, p. 3, 16 July 1928, retrieved 9 August 2014 – via British Newspaper Archive {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "Gertrude Lady Agnew", The Times, no. 46099, p. 16, 5 April 1932 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Ormond & Kilmurray (2002), p. 67, Accessories, p. xxii, no. 2 a.
  9. ^ Richard Louis Ormond, National Portrait Gallery, archived from the original on 10 August 2014, retrieved 10 August 2014 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Ormond (1998), p. 104
  11. ^ a b Downes (1925), p. 170
  12. ^ Ormond & Kilmurray (2002), pp. 66–67, cat. 286.
  13. ^ Herdrich, Weinberg & Shelley (2000), p. 208.
  14. ^ Weinberg & Herdrich (2000), p. 23
  15. ^ a b "The Royal Academy", The Times, no. 33938, p. 13, 29 April 1893 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ American patrons, National Library of Scotland, p. 4, archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2014, retrieved 10 August 2014 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ Roberts (1979), p. 51

Bibliography

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