Lot Essay
The sitter was the daughter of Samuel Hamilton and widow of General John Mordaunt, younger brother of the 6th Earl of Peterborough. She married the 8th Lord Dormer in 1768.
Reynolds' account books record that Mrs Mordaunt sat in December 1761, January 1762 and February 1768: a payment of 10 gns. was received in January 1762. Graves and Cronin, who wrongly give the sitter's name as Jane Caesar Adellar refer to a picture which passed from Mr Dormer of Rainham, Oxfordshire, to Mrs Noseda in 1877 and subsequently to Samuel Addington and James Orrock. There is, however, no reason to doubt that the present portrait is an autograph work of 1761-2. Lady Dormer's first husband was presumably the 'Mr Mordaunt' who sat to Reynolds in January 1758.
Reynolds' account books record that Mrs Mordaunt sat in December 1761, January 1762 and February 1768: a payment of 10 gns. was received in January 1762. Graves and Cronin, who wrongly give the sitter's name as Jane Caesar Adellar refer to a picture which passed from Mr Dormer of Rainham, Oxfordshire, to Mrs Noseda in 1877 and subsequently to Samuel Addington and James Orrock. There is, however, no reason to doubt that the present portrait is an autograph work of 1761-2. Lady Dormer's first husband was presumably the 'Mr Mordaunt' who sat to Reynolds in January 1758.