The setting for Spencer Frederick Gore’s painting of genteel lawn tennis was Garth House, the country home of his widowed mother in the village of Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire, about thirty miles from London. Gore painted the gardens at Garth House frequently in a series of idyllic views inspired by contemporary French painting, which contrast with his representations of modern London and its growing suburbs. The tennis player has been identified as the artist’s sister, Mrs. de Grey, and the subject had a particular resonance because Gore’s father was a champion tennis player who won the first lawn tennis tournament at Wimbledon in 1877. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
