Existing comment:
Lady Helen Venetia Vincent 1866–1954
Lady Helen Vincent is shown here in the prime of her career as a magnetic political and intellectual hostess. A decade later, World War I brought a halt to her glittering lifestyle as a leading light of the Souls, the wife of a Conservative Member of Parliament, and "without doubt the most beautiful woman in England," according to Cassell's Magazine.
Fluent in several languages, Lady Helen worked as a wartime nurse in military hospitals in France and Italy. Observing a critical need for anesthetists, she sidestepped the requirement of a medical degree and embarked on a privately arranged course that allowed her to administer chloroform and ether, which she did successfully on more than a thousand occasions. After the war, as the wife of the British ambassador, she reorganized the British Embassy and Residence in Berlin as part of her diplomatic mission.
Charcoal on paper, c. 1905
York Museums Trust (York Art Gallery), York, UK
This is the National Portrait Gallery sign in the exhibit. |