Hon. Emma (Crewe) Cunliffe, later Emma Cunliffe-Offley

Maker Thomas Lawrence (British, 1769-1830)

SitterSitter: Hon. Emma (Crewe) Cunliffe, later Emma Cunliffe-Offley (British, 1780 - 1850)

Collections

British Paintings

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Dateca.1809-1830

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 50 1/2 × 40 1/2 in. (128.3 × 102.9 cm.) frame: 64 × 55 in. (162.6 × 139.7 cm.)

DescriptionSeated center on a bank, three-quarters length, turned three-quarters right, her left hand below the right knee, which crosses the left. Her right elbow rests on a high bank behind her. Black hair and dark-gray eyes; a white lace hood tied under the chin; decollete white Empire gown and a tawny-gold mantle over her right arm and across her lap; a King Charles spaniel with a rose bow lies on the fold of the mantle, to the left. In the right background, a stormy sky, fells, and lake; in the left, two tree trunks on the bank.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Label TextElizabeth Emma Crewe was born February 15, 1780, the only surviving daughter of John Crewe (1742-1829) of Crewe Hall, Cheshire, and his wife Frances Anne Greville Crewe (1744-1818). Her father was created 1st Baron Crewe in 1806 in recognition of loyal service to the Whig party during forty-eight years as a member of parliament. But it was her mother's legendary beauty, intelligence, and political zeal that attracted a galaxy of political and cultural luminaries to the family circle. As a young girl, Emma Crewe garnered high praise from Fanny Burney, who found her "extremely well bred, sensible, attentive, & intelligent" and "promising to resemble mentally her charming Mother." She delighted in music and often performed as a singer at social gatherings. Numerous contemporary accounts attest to her considerable ability. On March 16, 1809 the painter Thomas Lawrence reported to a friend that Emma Crewe had refused a marriage proposal from Sir W.W. Wynne. One month later, on April 21, 1809, she married Foster Cunliffe (1782-1832) of Acton Park, Wrexham, elder son of Sir Foster Cunliffe (1755-1834), 3rd Baronet, and his wife Harriet. Having no children of their own, she and her husband later assumed responsibility for raising their young niece, the Hon. Annabella Crewe (1814-1874), daughter of Emma's elder brother John, 2nd Baron Crewe (1772-1835). In 1829, on inheriting the property of Madeley, Staffordshire, her husband adopted the surname Offley, by which her own family had been known prior to the early eighteenth century. Following her husband's death on April 19, 1832, Emma Cunliffe-Offley spent several years traveling with her niece in Germany, Austria, and Italy. She returned briefly to England on the death of her mother in December 1835, when it was observed that she would have perished from grief, had it not been for the affectionate support of her niece. It was to Annabella that Emma Cunliffe-Offley left the present painting (together with furnishings at Madeley and at her house in Upper Brook Street) when she died on February 15, 1850.

Status

On view

Object number17.29