Lady Gwendeline Spencer-Churchill – John Lavery

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 years, among them A Lady in Brown and A Lady in Black. 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.

Free Worldwide Shipping

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.