Portrait of Miss Leyland (2) dates from between 1872 and 1875. 1 It is dated from Whistler's known visits to Speke Hall, and his drypoint portraits.

According to the Pennells, Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892) commissioned paintings of his four children. 2 Leyland's wife, Frances Leyland (1834-1910), told the Pennells, '[Whistler] would work on them in the Lindsey Row house and then take the canvases up to Speke Hall and work on them there. Her children were awfully good about it, though they got fearfully tired.' 3