Portrait of a lady. 

James Jebusa Shannon, an Anglo-American artist, painted this portrait of a lady in an evocative style, probably sometime around the turn of the 20th century. It displays an aesthetic that combines formal portraiture and emerging modern ideas about beauty and representation. Shannon was a successful society portrait painter in Britain, and his work reflects the Edwardian era's complex social dynamics. During this time, the aristocracy still held sway, and the portrait became a marker of social standing and class identity. The slightly loosened brushwork might also hint at the influence of Impressionism, which was steadily changing the art world. To fully appreciate this work, we need to examine the institutions and patronage systems that supported artists like Shannon and also consider the changing status of women in Western society at the time. It is through this careful historical research that we come to understand the role of art in shaping and reflecting social norms.