Lot Essay
This picture was in the collection of Baroness Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), a great philanthropist, who was awarded her peerage by Queen Victoria as an expression of the nation's gratitude. She spent most of her life in London, mixing with many of the day's literary and political characters. From 1860 to 1877 she had a winter residence in Torquay, perhaps explaining the inclusion of this picture in her collection. The work is inscribed 'Baroness Burdett-Coutts, Sutherland, no. 981' on the reverse.