The white glove

Lambert positions the young woman with a slightly inclined head, a partially opened mouth, and a gaze that is both inviting and restrained.

Lambert positions the young woman with a slightly inclined head, a partially opened mouth, and a gaze that is both inviting and restrained. Her right arm is rendered with minimal clothing, and a single white glove draws attention to her hand. These compositional choices convey a subtle sensuality while also echoing the conventions of refined, coded courtship prevalent in early‑twentieth‑century portraiture.

The painting departs from the brown‑toned, muted palettes favored by many Australian portraitists of the period. Lambert employs a brighter, more dynamic palette and a fluid brushwork that recalls the vigor of Joshua Reynolds’s Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse and the elegance of John Singer Sargent’s 1905 portrait of Ena Wertheimer. The result is a lively, “wild dashing” representation, as the artist described it in correspondence.

After its exhibition, The White Glove was acquired by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1922 for 600 guineas, marking the highest amount a public Australian institution had paid for a domestic portrait up to that date. The work has remained in the gallery’s holdings ever since, forming part of its early‑twentieth‑century Australian art collection.

Created during a period when Australian portraiture was dominated by subdued, tonal approaches, Lambert’s vibrant rendering of a society figure signaled a shift toward greater expressiveness. The portrait also reflects the influence of European academic and Impressionist traditions, integrating them into a distinctly Australian context.