Portrait of Elizabeth Farren, Later Countess of Derby

Last updated
Portrait of Elizabeth Farren, Later Countess of Derby
Portrait of Elizabeth Farren, by Thomas Lawrence.jpg
Artist Thomas Lawrence
Yearc. 1790
MediumOil on canvas
Subject Elizabeth Warren
Dimensions238.8 x 146.1
Location Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Portrait of Elizabeth Farren, Later Countess of Derby is an oil on canvas painting by Thomas Lawrence. [1] Produced probably in 1790, it is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, to which it was donated by Edward S. Harkness in 1940. [2] As its title states, its subject Elizabeth Farren married Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby in 1797, seven years after the painting.

Description

Farren is represented here as a high society lady, elegantly dressed in noble fabrics and fur. Lawrence skillfully represents light on this type of fabric. Despite the elegance of her outfit, she appears in the green glade of a forest, with a meadow and trees. She is depicted in a low point of view, and as such much of the background is filled with the sky. The young woman's expression is very natural, to the point that one critic wrote: "...she is entirely Elizabeth Farren: carefree, mischievous, jovial, friendly and elegant." [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Lawrence</span> English portrait painter (1769–1830)

Sir Thomas Lawrence was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at the Bear Hotel in the Market Square. At age ten, having moved to Bath, he was supporting his family with his pastel portraits. At 18, he went to London and soon established his reputation as a portrait painter in oils, receiving his first royal commission, a portrait of Queen Charlotte, in 1789. He stayed at the top of his profession until his death, aged 60, in 1830.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bartolomé Esteban Murillo</span> Spanish Baroque painter (1617–1682)

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children. These lively realistic portraits of flower girls, street urchins, and beggars constitute an extensive and appealing record of the everyday life of his times. He also painted two self-portraits, one in the Frick Collection portraying him in his 30s, and one in London's National Gallery portraying him about 20 years later. In 2017–18, the two museums held an exhibition of them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museo del Prado</span> Spanish national art museum in Madrid, Spain

The Prado Museum, officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on the former Spanish royal collection, and the single best collection of Spanish art. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it also contains important collections of other types of works. The Prado Museum is one of the most visited sites in the world and is considered one of the greatest art museums in the world. The numerous works by Francisco Goya, the single most extensively represented artist, as well as by Hieronymus Bosch, El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, and Diego Velázquez, are some of the highlights of the collection. Velázquez and his keen eye and sensibility were also responsible for bringing much of the museum's fine collection of Italian masters to Spain, now one of the largest outside of Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby</span> British peer and politician (1752–1834)

Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby PC, usually styled Lord Stanley from 1771 to 1776, was a British peer and politician of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He held office as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1783 in the Fox–North coalition and between 1806 and 1807 in the Ministry of All the Talents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bronzino</span> Italian Mannerist painter (1503–1572)

Agnolo di Cosimo, usually known as Bronzino or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italian Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, Bronzino, may refer to his relatively dark skin or reddish hair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Farren</span> Irish actress (c. 1759–1829)

Elizabeth Farren was an Irish actress of the late 18th century. Born in Cork in 1759, her father, George Farren was a surgeon. His drinking habits brought on early death and his widow returned to Liverpool. Her mother went on the stage to support herself and her children. Elizabeth first appeared on the London stage in 1777 as Miss Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer and the following year appeared at Drury Lane which, along with the Haymarket Theatre became her primary venues for the rest of her acting career. She had over 100 characters in her repertoire including Shakespeare and various contemporary comedies and dramas. She was often compared to Frances Abington, who was her only real rival. Her last appearance was in April 1797, two months before her marriage to Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby. They had a son and two daughters.

<i>The Countess of Chinchon</i> Painting by Francisco Goya

The Countess of Chinchon is an oil-on-canvas portrait painted ca. 1800 by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It is held in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. The painting depicts María Teresa de Borbón, 15th Countess of Chinchón, who had been encouraged by Queen Maria Luisa of Parma and by opportunism to marry Manuel de Godoy, the Prime Minister, in a marriage of convenience. It does not depict the more famous Countess of Chinchón who became the namesake of the cinchona genus of trees and shrubs responsible for early modern quinine production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yale Center for British Art</span> Art museum in Connecticut, United States

The Yale Center for British Art at Yale University in central New Haven, Connecticut, houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of British art outside the United Kingdom. The collection of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, rare books, and manuscripts reflects the development of British art and culture from the Elizabethan period onward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum</span> Art museum in Madrid, Spain

The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. It is known as part of the "Golden Triangle of Art", which also includes the Prado and the Reina Sofía national galleries. The Thyssen-Bornemisza fills the historical gaps in its counterparts' collections: in the Prado's case this includes Italian primitives and works from the English, Dutch and German schools, while in the case of the Reina Sofía it concerns Impressionists, Expressionists, and European and American paintings from the 20th century.

Margaret Stanley, Countess of Derby was the only surviving daughter of Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland and Lady Eleanor Brandon. Her maternal grandparents were Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor, Queen of France. Mary was the third daughter of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York.

<i>Doña Antonia de Ipeñarrieta y Galdós and Her Son Don Luis</i>

Doña Antonia de Ipeñarrieta y Galdós and Her Son Don Luis is a 1634 portrait by Diego Velázquez, now in the Prado Museum. Doña Antonia and her son Luis are shown standing, captured in an elegant melancholy. The woman uses the chair to support herself, to emphasize her social status in the Court, where she had the right to sit. According to different studies of the canvas, it is believed that the child's figure could have been added afterwards.

<i>Equestrian Portrait of Elisabeth of France</i>

The portrait Equestrian Portrait of Elisabeth of France was painted by Diego Velázquez of Elisabeth of France circa 1635, originally for the Hall of Realms, originally a wing of the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid. It has been in the Museo del Prado since the gallery's institution in 1819.

<i>Portrait of Camilla Gonzaga and Her Three Sons</i> Painting by Parmigianino

Portrait of Camilla Gonzaga and Her Three Sons is a painting attributed to the Italian Mannerist artist Parmigianino and his workshop, executed around 1535–1537 and housed in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. It forms a pair with another painting in the Prado, the Portrait of Pier Maria Rossi di San Secondo, Camilla's husband, a painting which is unanimously assigned to Parmigianino.

<i>Venus, Adonis and Cupid</i> Painting by Annibale Carracci

Venus, Adonis and Cupid is a painting created c. 1595 by Annibale Carracci. The painting is in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. Annibale Carracci was one of the most well known Italian Baroque painters of the seventeenth century. The Carracci brothers established an academy of art called Accademia degli Incamminati, which pioneered the development of Bolognese Painting. Annibale Carracci and Caravaggio were among the most influential artists of this century, who through their unique artistic styles led to the transition from Mannerist to Baroque. Annibale was born in Bologna in 1560 and died in Rome in 1609.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Smith-Stanley, Countess of Derby</span> English peeress

Elizabeth Smith-Stanley, Countess of Derby was an English peeress. As the eligible eldest daughter of the 6th Duke of Hamilton, she married the 12th Earl of Derby in 1774, giving birth to three children. Lady Derby was popular among society and she organised a ladies cricket match. She was a leader of fashion alongside the Duchess of Devonshire.

<i>Adoration of the Magi</i> (Rubens, Madrid) Painting by Peter Paul Rubens

The Adoration of the Magi is a very large oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. He first painted it in 1609 and later gave it a major reworking between 1628 and 1629 during his second trip to Spain. It is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

<i>The White Duchess</i> Painting by Francisco de Goya

The White Duchess is a life sized oil-on-canvas painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya, completed in 1795. It portrays María Cayetana de Silva, 13th Duchess of Alba. It is in the collection of the House of Alba, in the Liria Palace, Madrid. It is one of a number of portraits Goya painted of the duchess around this time, and is usually compared alongside the similarly sized but tonally very different Black Duchess, which was painted two years later, just after her husband, José Álvarez de Toledo died aged 39. The duke and duchess were highly placed, cultivated and well-regarded members of the 1790s Spanish Court.

Judith Emilie Egerton was an Australian-born British art historian and curator. She specialised in eighteenth-century British art and, particularly, the work of George Stubbs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British paintings in the Museo del Prado</span>

The collection of twenty-eight British paintings in the Museo del Prado is one of only two significant collections of British art in Spain - the other is the Museo Lázaro Galdiano, a private collection influenced by the personal taste of Paula Florido, the wife of its founder José Lázaro Galdiano. There is little British art in the former Spanish royal collection due to the English and Scottish Reformations and the ensuing tensions between Spain, England and Scotland. The works entered the collection through both purchase and donation, two in the 1880s and the rest mostly in the 20th century other than two at the end of the 19th century.

<i>Flemish Market and Washing Place</i> Painting by Joos de Momper

Flemish Market and Washing Place is an oil-on-canvas painting by Flemish painter Joos de Momper. It was painted in the 1620s, and it might be a collaboration between de Momper and Jan Brueghel the Elder

References

  1. Brook, A., "Portrait of Elizabeth Farren, Later Countess of Derby" in British Painting from Hogarth to Turner, Museo del Prado / British Council, 1988, p. 198-199
  2. "Catalogue entry".
  3. Brook, A., "Portrait of Elizabeth Farren, Later Countess of Derby" in British Painting from Hogarth to Turner, Museo del Prado / British Council, 1988, p. 198-199