Loraine joined the Navy in 1852 and from April 1854 was a midshipman in the frigate 'Trincomalee' (today preserved as a museum ship at Hartlepool). From 1859 to 1862 he was a lieutenant in the ‘Algiers’ in the Mediterranean, and from 1864 flag lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Denman in the ‘Sutlej’ on the Pacific Station. His next and last service afloat was remarkable for two pieces of gunboat diplomacy. He commanded the cruise ‘Niobe’ on the North America Station from 1871–74, and in 1873 he went to the assistance of the British Consul at Omoa (Honduras), whose consulate had been sacked during a revolution.

Anna Lea Merrit (née Lea) (1844–1930) was born in Philadelphia, but settled in England after the American Civil War. She exhibited 44 pictures at the Royal Academy, 1871–1917. In 1885 she exhibited this portrait and another of Lady Loraine with one of her children. She moved in celebrity artist circles and Henry James was among her sitters. The portrait is signed and dated ‘Anna Lea Merrit 1884’.