English School, Circa 1876
Lot 275

English School, Circa 1876

Portrait of Lady Sarah Spencer (1838-1919), head and shoulders, seated half-length; wearing a white dress and pink necklace with blackberries

Closed8 July 2010

Price Realised

GBP 625

More Information

How to sell

English School, Circa 1876
Portrait of Lady Sarah Spencer (1838-1919), head and shoulders, seated half-length; wearing a white dress and pink necklace with blackberries
signed with monogram and dated '1876' (lower right)
watercolour, on paper
11½ x 9½ in. (29.2 x 24.1 cm.)

Specialist note

Lady Sarah Spencer was the younger sister of the 5th 'Red' Earl. She devoted much of her time to helping her brother in his public life, and lived next door to Spencer House at 28 St. James's Place. She was a close friend of William Gladstone's, often reading to him when his eyesight began to fail, and was apparently bitterly disappointed that her brother did not succeed Gladstone as Prime Minister (C. Spencer, The Spencer Family, London, 1999, p. 286).