North Room.—South End.
No. 18 "Portrait of Lady Boringdon, W.L."
Mannings # 1396
Current title: "Mrs. John Parker (1745-75)"
Location: Saltram House, The National Trust
Remembered as a patron of the arts, Theresa Parker [née Robinson] was born the daughter of Thomas Robinson, first Baron Grantham (1695-1770), then ambassador to the Habsburg court in Vienna, and Frances Worsley (1716-1750). She was named for her godmother Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.
In 1769, she became the second wife of John Parker (1734/5-1788), later Baron Boringdon. Famous for her design savvy and good taste, Lady Theresa spent her days improving Saltram House, their home in Devon, until it became a showpiece of south-west England.
According to family tradition, John Parker's mother gave Reynolds his first drawing pencil. Irrespective of such apocryphal beginnings, Reynolds was a good friend of the Parkers and visited Saltram often, where he enjoyed the hunting parties. He advised on paintings for Saltram, including many of his own works.
Like Sophia Ashburnham (see No. 15), Theresa Parker died from childbirth complications. Her daughter, also Theresa, later married George Villiers, and lived until 1856. Her son John Parker (1772-1840) became a politician and was named first Earl of Morley in 1815. A portrait of the son and daughter hangs in the South Room (No. 122).
In the Catalogue, "Lord Borringdon" (son of John and Theresa) is listed as the owner of this and four further paintings in the 1813 show. Presumably all were part of his parents' large collection of Reynolds' works.
Further Reading:
Entry for "Parker, Theresa (1745-1775), art patron," in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford UP, 2004).
Claire Lamont, "Domestic Architecture" in Jane Austen in Context, ed. Janet Todd (Cambridge UP, 2005), 225-233.
North Room.—South End.
No. 19 "Girl with grapes"
Mannings # 631
Current title: "Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick (1774-1841)"
Location: Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight
The title used by the British Institution treats this as a genre painting or fancy picture, leaving the sitter anonymous. Yet Mannings identifies her as Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick—whose official child portrait hangs in the South Room (No. 127).
Born the second daughter of the second Earl of Upper Ossory and Anne Liddell, Lady Gertrude died unmarried. For information about Gertrude and her older sister Anne, who was controversially born out of wedlock to the then-separated Duchess of Grafton, see notes at No. 121.
Further Reading:
Entry for mother, "Fitzpatrick, Anne, Countess of Upper Ossory [other married name Anne FitzRoy, duchess of Grafton] (1737/8-1804)," in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford UP, 2008).
North Room.—South End.
No. 20 "Portrait of Master Bunbury"
Mannings # 276
Current title: "Henry Edward Bunbury, afterwards 7th Bt (1778-1860)"
Location: Saltram House, The National Trust
"The sitter was Reynolds' godson and the picture was apparently painted for the artist himself" (Mannings).
Henry Bunbury, who married Louisa Fox in 1807, entered the British military, where he held the position of Quartermaster-General until inheriting in 1821 his uncle's baronetcy in Suffolk. Having lived in Italy for several years during his military career, Henry became fascinated by Italian manuscripts and enjoyed collecting fossils.
This is the first would-be baronet among the Reynolds portraits on exhibit. The rank of baronet, the lowest in the British aristocracy, was relatively new, having been created in 1611. Persuasion opens with a sustained look at "the Baronetage," the only book Sir Walter reads for pleasure and where he finds "occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one." Many publications by the name of "the Baronetage" existed in multiple editions and by various hands to keep track of the expanding membership of this rank.
Further Reading:
Entry for "Bunbury, Sir Henry Edward, seventh baronet (1778-1860)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford UP, 2004; online edn, 2005).
Thomas Keymer, "Rank," in Jane Austen in Context, ed. Janet Todd (Cambridge UP, 2005), 387-396.
North Room.—South End.
No. 21 "Portraits of Lady Lucas and Lady Grantham"
Mannings # 1956
Current title: "The Ladies Amabel (1751-1833) and Mary Jemima (1756-1830) Yorke"
Location: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Both girls are portrayed holding a white dove, which Mannings thinks was possibly inspired by a classical statue in the Capitoline Gallery in Rome called "Girl protecting a dove." From childhood onwards, both women were surrounded by politics.
After her husband died Amabel published several political pieces including An Historical Sketch of the French Revolution from Its Commencement to the Year 1792 (1792) and An Historical Essay on the Ambition and Conquests of France, with Some Remarks on the French Revolution (1796). She described herself as an old-fashioned Whig. Mary Jemima involved herself in politics through her sons, whom she encouraged to pursue political careers.
A portrait of their father, Philip Yorke, hangs in the South Room (No. 114).
This picture is one of many in the show that prominently feature household pets. See also No. 40, No. 45, No. 46, No. 50, No. 102, No. 103 and No. 113.
Further Reading:
Entry for "Campbell, Amabel Hume- [née Lady Amabel Yorke], suo jure Countess De Grey (1751-1833), political writer," in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford UP, 2004; online edn, 2008).
Entry for mother, "Yorke [née Campbell], Jemima, suo jure Marchioness Grey (1722-1797), letter writer," in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford UP, 2004).
Entry for father, "Yorke, Philip, second Earl of Hardwicke (1720Ð1790)," in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford UP, 2004).
Diana Donald, Picturing Animals in Britain, 1750-1850 (Yale UP, 2007).
Nicholas Roe, "Politics," in Jane Austen in Context, ed. Janet Todd (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005), 357-365.
North Room.—South End.
No. 22 "Portrait of the Marchioness of Tavistock, W.L."
Mannings # 1052
Current title: "Lady Elizabeth Keppel (1739-68)"
Location: Woburn Abbey
Lady Elizabeth Keppel, painted in the bridesmaid gown that she wore to the wedding of George III and Queen Charlotte, decorates a herm of Hymen in honor of the royal couple. Thus Reynolds dresses royal ceremony in the rayments of classical mythology, complete with a black servant to signal the far reaches of Britain's empire.
This portrait neatly faces that of George III (No. 1) while Queen Charlotte (No. 109) remains just visible on the exhibit's farthest wall through the archway on Elizabeth's left. The location of the bridesmaid links king and queen.
Jane Austen would poke fun at the increasingly elaborate pagentry of even non-royal wedding ceremonies when, at the close of Emma (1815), the snobbish Mrs. Elton reflects on the happy Knightly-Woodhouse wedding as "all extremely shabby, and very inferior to her own.—‘Very little white satin, very few lace veils; a most pitiful business!’"
In 1764, Elizabeth, who was the fifth daughter of the second Earl of Albemarle, took her own marriage vows. She wedded the handsome Francis Russell, Marquess of Tavistock, (1739-67), whose portrait is No. 128 in the South Room. A mere three years into their happy marriage, Francis Russell was tragically killed by a fall from his horse. Elizabeth was said to have pined away from grief.
Elizabeth was the sister of Admiral Augustus Keppel (No. 111).
North Room.—South End.
No. 23 "The captive"
Mannings # 2013
Current title: "The Banished Lord"
Location: Tate Gallery
This painting was engraved under the title of "The Banished Lord" by J. R. Smith in 1777, along with lines from Pleasures of Melancholy by Joseph Warton: "Amid Siberia's unrejoicing wilds/Who pines all lonesome, in the Chambers hoar/Of some high Castle shut."
North Room.—South End.
No. 24 "An old man's head, a study"
Mannings # 2031
Current title: "The Captive"
Location: A Lambton, Biddick Hall, Durham
The title by which this painting was known to Reynolds' own family was "The Captive" and derives from a passage describing a Bastille prisoner in A Sentimental Journey (1768) by Laurence Sterne (No. 99).
Middle Room