Scott was for many years secretary, librarian and architect to Bernard Berenson in Tuscany and was responsible for much of the rebuilding of the villa 'I Tatti' in Florence. He achieved considerable fame with his book 'The Architecture of Humanism' (1914). However, an ambitious sequel, entitled 'The History of Taste', did not proceed beyond the single, unpromising sentence – 'It is difficult…'

Not much is known of the Viennese painter Hugo von Bouvard. This portrait appeared in an exhibition of his work at the Brook Street Galleries, London, in 1926, reviewed by 'The Connoisseur' (vol.74, p.128). The reviewer commented that von Bouvard was 'a clever but unequal artist… His best work is in male portraiture, his pictures of Mr Otto Konig, Mr Ernest Thesiger and Mr Geoffrey Scott particularly showing sureness of attack and a certain brilliance of achievement'.