The only clue to the identity of this mysterious, handsome woman is the inscription on the back of ‘A Lady.’ It does have a resemblance to Lavery’s beautiful American-born wife Hazel, however, whom he painted hundreds of times in different moods, costumes and rôles, often in this size and format. Stylistically, the picture can be dated five years either side of 1909, when they married and Lavery was at the height of his career as a society portraitist, with a studio in Cromwell Place in South Kensington, London. Lavery had a confident, fast and fluid technique, most effective in his images of women.