[Incident in the Life of Lady Mary Wortley Montague]
1872
oil on canvas
This note accompanied the painting when it was exhibited at the RA in 1872:
"Lady Bute, daughter of Lady Mary, relates the circumstances of having seen her grandfather, the Duke of Kingston, once only, with the following particulars.
Her Mother was dressig, and she playing about the room when there entered an elderly stranger, of dignified appearance and still handsome, with the authorative air of a person entitled to admittance at all times: upon which, to her great surprise, Lady Mary, instantly starting up from the toilet table, dishevelled as she was, fell on her knees to ask his blessing."
Her Mother was dressig, and she playing about the room when there entered an elderly stranger, of dignified appearance and still handsome, with the authorative air of a person entitled to admittance at all times: upon which, to her great surprise, Lady Mary, instantly starting up from the toilet table, dishevelled as she was, fell on her knees to ask his blessing."
William Powell Frith was perhaps THE Victorian painter that made me want to learn to paint. He was a master of technique, which became frowned upon toward the end of the Victorian period.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you've been watching Jeremy Paxman's tv series on the Victoriand but he is dismissive of Frith as well. I love his work and he was fantastically popular at the time.
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