2561

Mrs William Lockett Agnew, née Augusta Isobel Sheil 1913

Seated three-quarter length to left on a gilt upholstered armchair, head turned and looking full face to the viewer, wearing a black dress with a cream lace fichu fastened by a brooch, a black chiffon stole and long white gloves, drop earrings, and a gold chain round her neck from which hangs an emerald and diamond cross, and with both hands resting in her lap

Oil on canvas, 104.2 x 76.2 cm (41 x 30 in.)

Inscribed lower right: P A de László / 1913.

Laib L6692(752) / C1(10)  

NPG Album 1903-14, p. 19, and 1912-16, p. 12 where dated: 1912

Private Collection

Lucy de László noted in her diary that this picture was completed 10 June 1913. The sitter’s husband, who had been painted the previous year [2560], was not wholly satisfied with the portrait and asked de László to alter it. The artist did not believe in making changes to a finished work, however, he agreed on this rare occasion. The sitter herself had been very pleased and made her point to the artist, “Personally I should feel quite satisfied to think I looked as nice as your portrait!”^[1]

Augusta Isobel Sheil was born in 1859 in Mallow, Ireland, the daughter of John Francis Augustus Sheil and his wife Hannah Evelina Exshaw. She married in 1884, William Lockett Agnew (1858-1918) a member of the renowned family of art dealers based in Bond Street from 1860. The couple were loyal friends of de László, supporting him during the artist’s internment and ultimate exoneration 1917-19.  

From 1909 the couple lived at Hallingbury Place in Leicestershire. The grounds were commandeered by the army during the First World War and the couple entertained George V on 19 February 1915, when he reviewed 33,000 troops prior to their departure to France. The sitter was an avid gardener and devoted much of her time to the installation of the water and rose gardens at Hallingbury. Towards the end of her life she continued an active outdoor life although she was confined to a wheelchair. A species of poppy (papaver orientale) was named the Mrs Lockett Agnew in her honor.

The sitter died 27 January 1922 at her London home at 1 Cumberland Terrace, Regent’s Park. She and her husband had built a substantial collection of fine and decorative art and these were sold in a series of sales at Christie’s after her death.

Mrs Agnew was painted in 1887-88 by Sir Luke Fildes (1843-1927), who also painted her husband Lockett Agnew in 1898.

LITERATURE:

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 388

•Field, Katherine ed., Transcribed by Susan de Laszlo, The Diaries of Lucy de László Volume I: (1890-1913), de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019, p. 217

•László, Lucy de, 1913 diary, private collection

KF 2012