Lady Dorothy Nevill was not only one of the most celebrated and charismatic hostesses of her day, but an author of memoirs, painter, illustrator, gardener, traveller and collector. As the youngest daughter of Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford (1783-1858) and his wife, Mary Fawkener, she was a kinswoman of Horace Walpole of Strawberry Hill and was brought up at Wolterton Hall, Norfolk, the Palladian house built by Horatio, 1st Baron Walpole in 1727. Therefore, it was perhaps not surprising that she should develop a passion for collecting - and for the arts of the 18th century in particular- early in life. Her marriage in 1847 to Reginald Nevill, son of the Rev. George Henry Nevill (1760-1844) and Caroline Walpole, grand-daughter of Horatio, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton, enabled her to indulge her varied interests. Dangstein, Sussex, the Greek revival mansion which the Nevills acquired in 1860, not only housed her burgeoning collection, but became a focal point for those in the political, literary, and artistic circles in which she moved with equal ease. She counted among her friends Disraeli, Dickens, Thackeray, and G.F. Watts (who early in his career had painted a portrait of her while in Florence in 1844).

Lady Nevill writes in her notebooks, published in 1907 by Ralph Nevill, that: 'The Hon. Henry Graves was another popular portrait-painter of the past. I think that in all probability the best thing he ever did was a miniature portrait of myself, which, on account of its beautiful execution, is quite a little gem. For some years Mr. Graves had no success at all, but a portrait of the late Lady Alexandra Lennox being very much admired, he leapt into popularity, and afterwards, I believe, regularly made several thousands every year.'