Lady Frances (Finch) Courtenay
Maker
Thomas Hudson
(British, 1701-1779)
SitterSitter:
Lady Frances (Finch) Courtenay
(British, 1721 - 1761)
Collections
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
Dateca. 1741
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions50 1/4 x 40 in. (127.6 x 101.6 cm.)
frame: 58 1/4 × 48 1/2 × 3 1/2 in. (148 × 123.2 × 8.9 cm.)
DescriptionStanding three-quarter length, nearly full face, in open landscape with sunset at far distance. Dressed in black velvet dress with panniers, a low-cut bodice, and light grey sleeves, adorned with beaded pendant, black velvet hat with pink ribbon and white feather. Holding a long white feather in proper left hand.
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Bequest of Florence M. Quinn
Label TextThe dress, pose, setting, and accessories in Hudson’s portrait of Lady Frances Courtenay are modeled on the 17th-century Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens’ portrait of his wife, Helena Fourment. Many British artists employed its distinctive black dress, ruffled collar, and feathered hat in their own female portraits, and similar costumes were often worn at costume balls by women who came in the guise of “Rubens’ wife.” In this portrait, Hudson combines the glamour and romance of the masquerade with a historical dignity befitting the aristocratic sitter.Status
On viewObject number44.100
Martin Archer Shee
ca.1804
Object number: 20.4
Anne Mee
mid 18th-early 19th Century
Object number: 26.19
