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Lot Essay
This composition sketch relates to the finished oil painting by Reynolds of Lady Louisa Manners, later Countess of Dysart, formerly in the collection of the Earl of Dyasart, and now in the Iveagh Bequest Kenwood.
Louisa Manners (1745-1840) was the eldest daughter of the 3rd Earl of Dysart, and in 1821 became Countess of Dysart in her own right. She sat to Reynolds in February 1779 and the portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1779, the pose taken from an antique muse.
A series of five sepia sketches of portraits of similar dimensions and technique to the present sketch is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; it has been suggested that they are records of compositions as there is no evidence of a creative struggle, see N. Penny, ed. et. al., Reynolds, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, London, 1986, nos. 155, i-v, catalogue for the Royal Academy Exhibition. See also N. Penny et.al., op. cit., nos. 154a-b for two larger works in pen and black pigment which are considered to be compositional sketches for Reynolds portrait of The Montgomery Sisters.
We are grateful to Dr. David Mannings for suggesting that the present sketch may have been executed by Reynolds himself or by one of his senior studio assistants such a Giuseppe Marchi (1735-1808) in order to guide Reynolds' studio assistants in 'laying in' full size compositions on the canvas.
Louisa Manners (1745-1840) was the eldest daughter of the 3rd Earl of Dysart, and in 1821 became Countess of Dysart in her own right. She sat to Reynolds in February 1779 and the portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1779, the pose taken from an antique muse.
A series of five sepia sketches of portraits of similar dimensions and technique to the present sketch is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; it has been suggested that they are records of compositions as there is no evidence of a creative struggle, see N. Penny, ed. et. al., Reynolds, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, London, 1986, nos. 155, i-v, catalogue for the Royal Academy Exhibition. See also N. Penny et.al., op. cit., nos. 154a-b for two larger works in pen and black pigment which are considered to be compositional sketches for Reynolds portrait of The Montgomery Sisters.
We are grateful to Dr. David Mannings for suggesting that the present sketch may have been executed by Reynolds himself or by one of his senior studio assistants such a Giuseppe Marchi (1735-1808) in order to guide Reynolds' studio assistants in 'laying in' full size compositions on the canvas.