In 1875, Lady Eastlake, the widow of the first Director of the National Gallery, confided to a cousin that she believed herself to have been the best person to have succeeded her husband in the management of the Gallery:

Those connected to the National Gallery in the years following Sir Charles Eastlake's death would not perhaps be astonished by the idea. The widowed Lady Eastlake, having spent ten years as the loyal and companionable helpmeet of the first Director, became a relentless campaigner in the preservation of her husband's legacy. ‘His best successor’ continued to offer intercessory – and not always welcome – advice to Eastlake's official successors, including what to purchase and whom to appoint, and earning herself a reputation for interference. Institutional biographies are often enriched by their association with colourful characters and Lady Eastlake has been a persistent and vivid presence in histories of the National Gallery.