Julia B Lynch Mrs EW Kane

Both the artist and the subject of this portrait were New Zealand residents. The sitter, a pioneering feminist, was born Rosetta Lulah Leavy (1871-1934). She later married Frederick Ehrenfried Baume and, after his death, Edward William Kane – both New Zealand politicians. As Rosetta Baume, she was among the first women to stand for the New Zealand Parliament in 1919.

Julia Bridget Lynch (1896-1975) was born in Tokomaru, New Zealand, and trained as an artist at the Slade School in London for two years. She was one of New Zealand’s most celebrated and prolific portrait painters. Known as Sister Mary Lawrence, she was with the Sisters of Mercy for 51 years and was attached to St Mary’s College in Wellington, where she taught art.