Portrait of Elizabeth Kerr

Last updated

Portrait of Elizabeth Kerr
Elizabeth Kerr of Lothian (1745-1780) by Joshua Reynolds.jpg
Artist Joshua Reynolds
Yearc.1769
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions97.7 cm× 74.4 cm(38.5 in× 29.3 in)
Location Museo Soumaya, Mexico City

Portrait of Elizabeth Kerr is a c. 1769 oil on canvas portrait painting by the English artist Joshua Reynolds. It is now in the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City. [1]

It shows Elizabeth Kerr (née Fortescue), daughter of Chichester Fortescue (1718–1757), High Sheriff of County Down in what is now Northern Ireland. Reynolds also painted her at least twice between her marriage in 1762 and her husband's succession to the marquisate in 1775 – these half-lengths are on show at Blickling Hall [2] and Fyvie Castle. [3] John Spilsbury engraved the c.1769 work in 1770, though he altered a few details of the dress. [4] [5]

The c. 1769 work was inherited by William and Elizabeth's seventh child and second son Lord Charles Beauchamp Kerr (1775–1816), who passed it to his own son Captain Beauchamp Kerr. Sometime before 1899 it came into the hands of one E. Beckett, who sold it to Agnew's that year. Agnew's sold it on four days later to George J. Gould, who bequeathed it to a private collector in Washington, D.C. That private collector then sold it at auction at Sotheby's New York on 9 June 2011, where it was bought by its present owner for $62,500 (then equivalent to £38,514). [6]

Description

The subject is shown seated three-quarter-length, her hands resting in her lap and her right forearm resting on a table. She wears a dress influenced by the ancient Greek chiton and an overmantle of blueish silk, edged with ermine to reflect her noble status. Influenced by ancient Roman busts, her high and heavily-ornamented hairstyle was very fashionable for the time, with a single braid running over her right breast. Reynolds contrasts her white skin with a darker background [7] Some art historians argue that the work complies with the "four principles of painting" outlined by Reynolds in his Discourses on Art, namely invention, colour, drapery and expression. [8]

Related Research Articles

Joshua Reynolds 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits

Sir Joshua Reynolds was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was a founder and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, and was knighted by George III in 1769.

Thomas Gainsborough 18th-century English portrait and landscape painter

Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of the second half of the 18th century. He painted quickly, and the works of his maturity are characterised by a light palette and easy strokes. Despite being a prolific portrait painter, Gainsborough gained greater satisfaction from his landscapes. He is credited as the originator of the 18th-century British landscape school. Gainsborough was a founding member of the Royal Academy.

Angelica Kauffman Swiss artist (1741–1807)

Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann, usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, Kauffmann was a skilled portraitist, landscape and decoration painter. She was, along with Mary Moser, one of two female painters among the founding members of the Royal Academy in London in 1768.

Pompeo Batoni Italian painter

Pompeo Girolamo Batoni was an Italian painter who displayed a solid technical knowledge in his portrait work and in his numerous allegorical and mythological pictures. The high number of foreign visitors travelling throughout Italy and reaching Rome during their "Grand Tour" led the artist to specialize in portraits. Batoni won international fame largely thanks to his customers, mostly British of noble origin, whom he portrayed, often with famous Italian landscapes in the background. Such Grand Tour portraits by Batoni were in British private collections, thus ensuring the genre's popularity in Great Britain. One generation later, Sir Joshua Reynolds would take up this tradition and become the leading English portrait painter. Although Batoni was considered the best Italian painter of his time, contemporary chronicles mention his rivalry with Anton Raphael Mengs.

James Paine (architect) English architect (1717–1789)

James Paine (1717–1789) was an English architect.

George Engleheart

George Engleheart (1750–1829) was one of the greatest English painters of portrait miniatures, and a contemporary of Richard Cosway, John Smart, William Wood, and Richard Crosse.

Sir Chaloner Ogle, 1st Baronet Royal Navy officer (1726–1816)

Sir Chaloner Ogle, 1st Baronet was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the Seven Years' War, American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Brigadier-General John Carnac was a British officer who served three times as Commander-in-Chief of India. The son of Capt. Peter Carnac (1665–1756), and Andrienne, née Lelonte, he was baptised in London.

Arthur Devis

Arthur Devis was an English artist, half-brother of the painter Anthony Devis (1729–1816), and father of painters Thomas Anthony Devis (1757–1810) and Arthur William Devis (1762–1822). His place in the pages of art history is generally as a painter of the type of portrait now called a conversation piece.

<i>Lady Cockburn and Her Three Eldest Sons</i> Painting by Joshua Reynolds

Lady Cockburn and Her Three Eldest Sons (1775) is an oil on canvas portrait by Joshua Reynolds. Work began on the picture in 1773, and, in Grand Manner fashion, Reynolds exploited two classical paintings: the attitude of the child on the left was modelled on Cupid in Velázquez's Toilet of Venus whilst the general composition was inspired by Anthony van Dyck's Charity. The painting passed to Mister Cockburn's son George, and then to his daughter, Mrs Hamilton, the wife of Sir James Hamilton. It was bequeathed to London's National Gallery in 1906. The painting is one of the few signed by Reynolds: Lady Cockburn's dress bears his signature and the year 1775.

William Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian

General William John Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian was a British soldier and peer, styled Lord Newbattle until 1767 and Earl of Ancrum from 1767 to 1775. He was buried at St Andrew's parish Church, Farnham, Surrey on 19 January 1815.

Museo Soumaya Art museum in Nuevo Polanco, Mexico City

The Museo Soumaya is a private museum in Mexico City and a non-profit cultural institution with two museum buildings in Mexico City — Plaza Carso and Plaza Loreto. It has over 66,000 works from 30 centuries of art including sculptures from Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, 19th- and 20th-century Mexican art and an extensive repertoire of works by European old masters and masters of modern western art such as Auguste Rodin, Salvador Dalí, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and Tintoretto. It is called one of the most complete collections of its kind.

<i>Lady Elizabeth Delmé and Her Children</i> Painting by Joshua Reynolds

Lady Elizabeth Delmé and Her Children (1779) is an oil on canvas portrait by Joshua Reynolds. It was given to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC in 1937. The NGA describes the work as a "majestic group portrait".

Louisa Tollemache, 7th Countess of Dysart

Louisa Manners Tollemache, 7th Countess of Dysart was a peer in the Scottish peerage in a flourishing family. Her father held considerable estates in England largely due to the two marriages of Elizabeth Maitland, Duchess of Lauderdale, earlier Tollemache, née Elizabeth Murray. Her elder brothers left no surviving issue on their deaths which enabled her to enjoy and help to pass on to her descendants the key family settlement properties: Helmingham Hall and Ham House in England.

<i>Portrait of Omai</i> Painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Portrait of Omai is an oil-on-canvas portrait by English artist Sir Joshua Reynolds, completed c.1776.

<i>Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire</i> Painting by Thomas Gainsborough

Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire is a portrait painting by the English painter Thomas Gainsborough of the political hostess Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. It was painted between 1785 and 1787.

Still Life is a mural executed by Rufino Tamayo in 1954. It is on permanent display at the Museo Soumaya.Fundación Carlos Slim in Plaza Carso, Mexico City, Mexico.

Elizabeth Fortescue

Elizabeth Fortescue was a noblewoman in the peerage of Great Britain and Ireland. She was a daughter of Chichester Fortescue (1718–1757), High Sheriff of County Down in what is now Northern Ireland. In around 1769 she was painted by Joshua Reynolds.

Theresa Parker

Theresa Parker, Lady Boringdon born Theresa Robinson was an English noblewoman, designer and art patron. She bought paintings by Joshua Reynolds and Angelica Kauffman and oversaw the interior design and golden age of Saltram House.

Spridleston Historic manor in Devon, England

Spridleston is an historic manor in the parish of Brixton in Devon, England, long a seat of a branch of the prominent and widespread Fortescue family. The ancient manor house does not survive, but it is believed to have occupied the site of the present Spriddlestone Barton, a small Georgian stuccoed house a few hundred yards from the larger Spriddlestone House, also a Georgian stuccoed house, both centred on the hamlet of Spriddlestone and near Higher Spriddlestone Farm.

References

  1. (in Spanish)Museo Soumaya. México: Fundación Carlos Slim. 2015. p. 234. ISBN   9786077805120.
  2. "Elizabeth Fortescue, Countess of Ancram, later Marchioness of Lothian (1745–1780)" . Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  3. "Elizabeth Kerr (1745–1780)". artuk.org. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  4. "Elizabeth Lothian" (in Spanish). Biblioteca Digital Hipánica.
  5. "Elizabeth Kerr (née Fortescue), Marchioness of Lothian". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  6. "Old Master Paintings – Lot 130 – ELIZABETH KERR, MARCHIONESS OF LOTHIAN (1745–80)" . Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  7. (in Spanish) Ayala Canseco, Eva María (febrero de 2015). El reino de las formas: Grandes maestros. pp. 4–5.
  8. (in Spanish) Ayala Canseco, Eva María (febrero de 2013). «Sir Joshua Reynolds y la retratística inglesa». Revista mensual Museo Soumaya: 1-5.