Lady Agnew of Lochnaw

She looks straight at you, one arm draped along the chair, the other hand resting loosely in her lap, as if she has just been interrupted mid-thought and is deciding whether to answer. This is Gertrude Vernon, who married Sir Andrew Noel Agnew and became Lady Agnew of Lochnaw. John Singer Sargent painted her in 1892 at the couple's request, and he worked fast, finishing in roughly six sittings. She was recovering from influenza at the time, which may explain the slightly weary ease of her pose, though it never tips into frailty. The white silk dress with its lilac sash is handled with loose, confident strokes that dissolve into pure paint when you get close, while her face stays sharply, almost startlingly focused.

Sargent was American, born in Florence and trained in Paris, and by this point he had settled in London and become the portrait painter wealthy families competed to book. When this picture was shown at the Royal Academy in 1893, it made both their names: critics praised it, and Lady Agnew found herself a society figure overnight. The background is a Chinese silk hanging with scattered flowers, and the chair is a French bergère, both chosen more for their colour than their history. The turquoise behind her cools everything down and makes the warm tones of her skin and the violet ribbon at her waist do all the work. The painting has been in Edinburgh since 1925, and it remains one of the most popular things in the Scottish National Gallery.