In June 1911, London's high society turned out in Elizabethan costume for a Fancy Dress Ball at the Royal Albert Hall, raising funds for a planned Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. Lady Gwendeline Spencer-Churchill — known to friends as "Goonie" — attended dressed as an attendant to Portia from The Merchant of Venice, and Lavery caught her in this quick oil sketch beforehand. He later gave it to her directly as a gift; it stayed in her family ever since.
Goonie, born Gwendeline Bertie, daughter of the 7th Earl of Abingdon, had married Winston Churchill's brother Jack in 1908 — the same year Winston himself married her close friend Clementine. The two women's friendship only deepened from there, and it was Goonie who first encouraged her brother-in-law to take up painting. Winston became a regular visitor to Lavery's studio not long after, in lessons that turned into what he'd later call his most important pastime.
Lavery painted Goonie many times over the following decade — a full-length portrait for the Royal Academy in 1913, A Lady in Brown, and what's often considered his finest treatment of her, A Lady in Black, shown at the Grosvenor Galleries in 1924. This small sketch, inscribed to her directly, likely predates all of them.
Sizes & Format
30 × 45 cm / 12 × 18″
40 × 60 cm / 16 × 24″
60 × 90 cm / 24 × 36″
Available as a fine art poster, framed (black, white, wood), or unframed
Print & Frame Details
Archival matte paper, 250gsm (110lb), acid-free and FSC-certified — off-white, uncoated. Framed prints: solid oak or ash wood frame, 20mm thick, with shatterproof protective glazing. Ready to hang, hanging kit included. Unframed prints up to A4 ship flat; larger sizes ship rolled in a protective tube.
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Framed prints are packed with protective corners and wrap, boxed with reinforced edges, and braced with internal supports for extra rigidity (max 3 frames per package). Every order ships free, made to order and delivered from the hub closest to you: Ireland 3–7 business days · UK 4–8 · USA 5–10 · Canada 6–12 · Australia 7–14.
