John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)

The present work depicts Evelyn Bligh St. George, later known as Lady Gunston. The sitter was the daughter of Mrs. Florence Evelyn St. George and the granddaughter of wealthy New York banker, George Fisher Baker. Evelyn served as the sitter for a multitude of commissioned portraits, including a series of four successive annual portraits commissioned by her mother, Florence, from Sir William Orpen, R.H.A., R.A. Two years after this particular portrait was produced, Evelyn Bligh St. George married Derrick Wellesley Gunston in October of 1917.

This charcoal drawing has been reviewed and accepted by the John Singer Sargent Catalogue Raisonné Committee.