Octavia Hill
John Singer Sargent
1898
Oil on canvas
40 1/8 in. x 32 3/8 in. (1020 mm x 822 mm) overall
Courtesy of the National Gallery, London (NPG 1746)
Bequeathed by Octavia Hill, 1915
According to the gallery's own site, "Influenced by Christian Socialism and encouraged by John Ruskin in her schemes for improving the housing of the poor, Octavia Hill devoted herself to housing reform and to supervising the building and management of numerous dwellings. She was also widely involved in other charitable activities and a founder of the National Trust. This portrait was commissioned from Sargent by her friends and was given to Hill on her sixtieth birthday. It has a fine carved frame of leaves and fruit." [Click on image to enlarge it.]