Code: 11687
Dimensions:
Lavinia, Countess Spencer (1762-1831)
portrait of "Viscountess Duncannon" (1761–1821) seated in a landscape
Pen and ink with brown wash
on a stretched paper oval
Circa 1786
Measures:-
37 cm x 28.5 cm (Oval)
Provenance:
Private collection U.K.
Presented in its original Georgian cream painted frame with a gilt decorated border of feigned beading.
This fine late 18th Century amateur drawing is a portrait of Henrietta "Harriet" Spencer (1761–1821) (later Countess of Bessborough) and is attributable to her sister-in-law, the amateur artist and illustrator, Lavinia, Countess Spencer (née Lady Bingham (1762-1831)) - married to her elder brother George 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834). Lavinia was the eldest daugher of Charles Bingham, 1st Earl of Lucan, and Margaret Smyth (1740-1814), she married George Spencer in 1782 and they went on to have eight children. Lavinia's mother was herself an accomplished amateur artist and copyist who was much admired by Horace Walpole; he wrote of her that she "transferred the vigour of Raphael to her copies in water colours".[1] Her work also shows affinity to drawings by Lady Diana Beauclerk (1734-1808), another family member championed by Walpole.[2]
This drawing, or a version of it, was engraved by Francesco Bartolozzi R.A. (1728-1815) as "Henrietta Frances Viscountess Duncannon" and published by William Dickinson in 1787 [see images]. The published image has only the central figure without the tree to the right or the landscape to the left (see BM 1871,1111.757) - but these elements are both consistent with other of her engraved works. A similar oval engraving of Viscountess Duncannon and her sister Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1757–1806) was engraved by William Dickinson after a painting by Angelica Kauffman and published by him in 1782.
The sitter married Frederick Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon (and later 3rd Earl of Bessborough) in 1780, an accomplished amateur landscape painter himself who was taught by Paul Sandby. Although they had four children together (the most famous of whom was certainly Lady Caroline Lamb (1785–1828)), the marriage was notoriously unhappy. In search of pleasure, Harriet became addicted to gambling and amassed thousands of pounds of debt. In 1789 she embarked on an affair with Richard Brinsley Sheridan and was caught in flagrante delicto with him by her husband who immediately threatened divorce. Harriet only escaped what would have been a ruinous separation through the intervention of her sisters' powerful Cavendish and Spencer connections, who sided with her against her abusive husband - making it ill-advisable for him to seek the dissolution of their marriage. They maintained an uneasy union until her death.
Notes:-
[1] See p.250-51 for quote in 'Margaret Smyth' entry in John William Bradley "A dictionary of miniaturists, illuminators, calligraphers, and copyists: with references to their works, and notices of their patrons, from the establishment of Christianity to the eighteenth century compiled from various sources, many hitherto inedited ", London, B. Quaritch, 1889
[2] See p.237-243 Kim Sloan "A Noble Art: Amateur Artists & Drawing Masters, c.1600-1800", London, British Museum Press, 2000
