When the young English actress Lynn Fontanne arrived in New York in 1916, it did not take long for her to gain recognition as a performer of "extraordinary powers." But her greatest acclaim came after she paired up with her actor-husband Alfred Lunt in the early 1920s. The two seemed perfectly matched professionally, and in the coming years, they became a theatrical legend as they shared top billing in one stage triumph after another. Lunt and Fontanne, one critic effused, "play together . . . with a fluency that is matchless," and the "give and take [of their performances] is a constant joy to watch." As for their box-office appeal, writer Ring Lardner summed it up in the couplet, "You want to pack 'em out in front? / Hire Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt."

This portrait dates from Fontanne's early years as a struggling actress in London and was painted by Wilfred de Glehn, for whom she often sat. Although Fontanne was struggling, she was not unappreciated in quarters that counted. No less than the great actress Ellen Terry noted in her journal at about this time: "Must get Lynn more money. It's wicked. . . . She is so intelligent."