Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, c. 1787/1796

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 59.1 x 39.9 cm (23 1/4 x 15 11/16 in.)

framed: 77.2 x 57.2 x 6.4 cm (30 3/8 x 22 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

Accession Number

1970.17.119

Artists / Makers

Gainsborough Dupont (painter) British, 1754 - 1797

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

George Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover [1797-1833];[1] by descent to his granddaughter, the Hon. Lilah Agar-Ellis, later Lady Annaly [1862-1944], until c. 1922. (M. Knoedler & Co., London and New York); sold January 1922 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; gift to his daughter, Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York, by 1937; bequest 1970 to NGA.

[1] George Agar-Ellis was married to Lady Georgiana Howard, granddaughter of the sitter. His mother was Lady Caroline Spencer [d. 1813], eldest daughter of George, 4th Duke of Marlborough and cousin of the sitter. It is possible that Lady Caroline may have inherited the painting from Georgiana or her husband, William, 5th Duke of Devonshire [1748-1811], and bequeathed it to her son. George's son was Henry Agar-Ellis, whose daughter, the Hon. Lilah Agar-Ellis, later Lady Annaly, inherited the painting.

Associated Names

Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover, George James Welbore
Agar-Ellis, 3rd Viscount Clifden and 2nd Baron Dover, Henry
Annaly, Lilah Georgiana Augusta Constance, Lady, the Hon.
Bruce, Ailsa Mellon, Mrs.
Knoedler & Company, M.
Mellon, Andrew W.

Exhibition History

1867: National Portraits, South Kensington Museum, London, 1867, no. 470.

1885: The Works of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A., Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1885, no. 40.

Technical Summary

The fine canvas is plain woven; it has been lined. The picture has been very slightly enlarged by lining; there is a one-quarter-inch band of repaint along the left and bottom edges, and a thin border of retouching along the other edges. The ground is white, of moderate thickness. The painting is executed in very rich, fluid paint, applied first in thin washes, then increasingly opaquely, with some impasto in the highlights. The paint surface has been slightly flattened during lining. The large proportion of medium used resulted in traction crackle on drying, which has been retouched in the darks and in the face of the duchess. The recent natural resin varnish, lightly pigmented with black, has discolored yellow slightly.

Bibliography

1903: Gower, Lord Ronald Sutherland. Thomas Gainsborough. London, 1903: repro. opp. 66.

1953: Waterhouse, Ellis Kirkham. "Preliminary Check List of Portraits by Thomas Gainsborough." Walpole Society 33 [1948-1950] (1953): 29.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 144, repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 140, repro.

1992: Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 66-68, repro. 67.