The painting was commissioned in 1892 and completed the same year by the American portrait artist John Singer Sargent.

The museum acquired it through the Cowan Smith Bequest Fund in 1925.Gertrude Vernon was born in 1864,[1] the daughter of the Hon.

[6][a] Lady Agnew died in London in April 1932 after suffering ill health for a long time.

[2][8] Lady Agnew is seated in an 18th-century French Bergère[6] and, 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 her in a three-quarter length pose, dressed in a white gown with a silk mauve sash as an accessory round her waist.

[6] She looks directly and appraisingly, her expression capturing the impression she is participating in an "intimate conversation" with those observing the painting.

[16][17][18] According to the Scottish National Gallery, "the cumulative cost of sustaining celebrity with style obliged Lady Agnew to sell her own portrait".