With thanks, historian Robert Bagnall, researching Jean Walker Simpson, (1897-1980) contacted this archive in March, 2025 and put a name to this portrait of the young woman seated with her West Highland White Terrier:

“The woman in the photo is Jean Walker Simpson of 926 Fifth Avenue. Her parents, John Woodruff Simpson and Kate Seney Simpson, were noted art collectors – among other things, the first major American collectors of Rodin’s work and early patrons of Steichen, whose studio was across the street from the Selbys.”

Other important details were given: “Jean was painted by (Joaquín) Sorolla with the same dog, but wearing a red dress. She got the dog in 1908, so the photo should be dated somewhat later.”

Jean Walker Simpson was the daughter of John Woodruff Simpson, (1850-1920) a Craftsbury, Vermont native who was one of the founders of the prestigious New York City law firm of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett. After his passing, Jean would go on to honor her father by establishing the John Woodruff Simpson Memorial Library in East Craftsbury VT, to this day, a vibrant community resource and driving force in the cultural life of East Craftsbury.

You can read a profile on Jean Walker Simpson and her continuing legacy here. The library itself holds another Misses Selby portrait of Simpson dated 1914-perhaps taken around the same time as this one. Edward Steichen also photographed Simpson, a somewhat later portrait taken in 1923 now held in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

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British photographers Emily & Lillian Selby began taking photographs together while operating their first American portrait studio at 292 Fifth Avenue in New York City beginning in 1900. Collectively signing their work as The Misses Selby, the sisters, (Emily: b. 1868 | Lillian: b. 1866) according to Jane C. Gover:

…were seeking an artist’s studio in New York when they happened to be offered a photographer’s studio with all its equipment. Relying on Emily’s business experience and Lillian’s degree in science, the sisters established a portrait studio and quickly became well known in Manhattan.  (1.)

In 1904, a short mention of their newfound interest in photographing dogs was penned by author Lucy Dix in the Broadway Magazine:

The Misses Selby have made a new departure for themselves in connection with their photographic work in the big Fifth Avenue Studio. One of their sitters chanced to bring in a magnificent dog to be photographed, and the two young English women, keen lovers of high-bred animals, were so successful with the pictures that they added dog photography as a side issue. (2.)

1. The Misses Selby: in: Ambassadors of Progress, American Women Photographers in Paris, 1900-1901: edited by Bronwyn A.E. Griffith: Musée d’Art Américain Giverny, France In association with the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.: 2001: p. 170
2.  Lucy M. Dix: Successful Women in Queer Occupations: from: Broadway Magazine: New York: May, 1904: p. 167