This is one of two portraits of Roberts’ first wife, Elizabeth Sarah (Lillie) in this exhibition. Although they met in Tasmania in 1878, they didn’t marry until 1896. Lillie was also an artist: they both attended the National Gallery School in Melbourne. After exhibiting with the Victorian Artists’ Society in the late 1880s and early 1890s, Lillie found considerable success as a frame maker, carving and gilding several of the frames on Roberts’ works in this exhibition, including this portrait.