Mrs Philip Leslie Agnew

Mrs Philip Leslie Agnew of 1902 was among Sargent's Edwardian society commissions from the world of art dealing — the Agnew family were among the most prominent picture dealers in Britain, closely connected to the London art market that handled Sargent's own work. Painting the dealer's wife placed Sargent within a professional relationship as much as a social one. These overlaps between social and commercial connections characterised much of his portrait practice: he was as deeply embedded in the art world's commercial infrastructure as in aristocratic society.

The society portrait of a dealer's wife allowed Sargent considerable range in terms of dress and setting. The handling of formal fabric — the characteristic glossy surface of Edwardian female dress — is managed with his usual bravura economy. The face is painted with characteristic directness. The composition is formal but not stiff, the background handled with atmospheric looseness.