Lot Essay
Emily, 1st Viscountess Hambleden was the daughter of Frederick Dawes Danvers and married William Henry Smith in 1858. Following the death of her husband in October 1891, she was raised to the peerage in his honour as Viscountess Hambleden of Hambleden, Buckinghamshire. The present portrait most likely portrays Emily with her eldest of four daughters, Mabel Danvers Smith.