Explore the Background of this artwork, Lady Agnew of Lochnaw.
Gertrude Vernon was born in 1864, the daughter of the Hon. Gowran Vernon and granddaughter of Robert Vernon, 1st Baron Lyveden. She married Sir Andrew Noel Agnew, 9th Baronet of Lochnaw Castle in Wigtownshire in 1889. A few years later, during 1892, he commissioned John Singer Sargent to paint her portrait. The success of the painting endowed her with additional notoriety 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.
Helen Clay Frick Sir Andrew Noel Agnew, 9th Baronet John Singer Sargent Robert Vernon, 1st Baron Lyveden Frick Collection Lochnaw Castle