Lot Essay
Lady Priscilla Anne Wellesley-Pole was born on 13th March 1793, third daughter of Hon. William Wellesley-Pole, later 3rd Earl of Mornington, and niece of 1st Duke of Wellington. On 26th (?) June 1811 she married John, Lord Burghersh, eldest son of John, 10th Earl of Westmorland. Her husband had an exceptionally distinguished military career serving in the Hanoverian campaign, in Egypt, the Peninsular War and the Allies march into Paris in 1814, finally rising to the rank of General in 1854. In the diplomatic service he was Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Florence (1814-1830), Ambassador at Berlin (1841-1851) and at Vienna (1851-1855). Furthermore he was the Founder of the Royal Academy of Music in 1822, and its first President from its opening in 1823 until his death in 1859.
Lord and Lady Burghersh's eldest son, Hon. George Augustus Frederick John Fane, was born in Florence on 18th June 1819 and baptised there on 26th June, the Prince Regent being one of his sponsors. On the death of his grandfather in 1841, George succeeded his father as Lord Burghersh but dying on 29th April 1848, predeceased his father by eleven years and thus never succeeded to the Earldom which passed to his younger brother Francis. Of his mother, Priscilla, Vicary Gibbs wrote: (she was) "brought into contact with great affairs and great personages during the whole of her long life; and her intimate correspondence with all the prominent men and women of her day, shows how well fitted she was, by a rare combination of intellectual gifts and social graces, to adorn the society she frequented". Known to be a favourite of her uncle, the Duke of Wellington, she was also an accomplished artist, her works including a picture of the Countess of Mornington with busts of her three distinguished sons, and another of Wellington writing a dispatch after Waterloo, both of which were later engraved.
Amongst numerous other pictures of members of the Mornington and Westmorland families, Lawrence is known to have painted both these sitters in other portraits: Lady Burghersh appearing in a group together with her two sisters, Lady Mary Bagot and Emily, Lady Raglan; and George Fane in a work dated c. 1822; unfortunately the whereabouts of both these pictures are unknown. The present picture was illustrated as the frontispiece for 'The Correspondence of Priscilla, Countess of Westmorland, 1813-1870' published in 1909 and edited by Lady Rose Weigall, her youngest daughter. The Countess herself lived to the age of 85 dying at 29 Portman Square on 18th February 1879.
Executed in Florence in 1820, several copies of this portrait - with minor variations - have appeared on the art market. A study for the child is in the Frederick and Lucy S. Herman Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia.
Lord and Lady Burghersh's eldest son, Hon. George Augustus Frederick John Fane, was born in Florence on 18th June 1819 and baptised there on 26th June, the Prince Regent being one of his sponsors. On the death of his grandfather in 1841, George succeeded his father as Lord Burghersh but dying on 29th April 1848, predeceased his father by eleven years and thus never succeeded to the Earldom which passed to his younger brother Francis. Of his mother, Priscilla, Vicary Gibbs wrote: (she was) "brought into contact with great affairs and great personages during the whole of her long life; and her intimate correspondence with all the prominent men and women of her day, shows how well fitted she was, by a rare combination of intellectual gifts and social graces, to adorn the society she frequented". Known to be a favourite of her uncle, the Duke of Wellington, she was also an accomplished artist, her works including a picture of the Countess of Mornington with busts of her three distinguished sons, and another of Wellington writing a dispatch after Waterloo, both of which were later engraved.
Amongst numerous other pictures of members of the Mornington and Westmorland families, Lawrence is known to have painted both these sitters in other portraits: Lady Burghersh appearing in a group together with her two sisters, Lady Mary Bagot and Emily, Lady Raglan; and George Fane in a work dated c. 1822; unfortunately the whereabouts of both these pictures are unknown. The present picture was illustrated as the frontispiece for 'The Correspondence of Priscilla, Countess of Westmorland, 1813-1870' published in 1909 and edited by Lady Rose Weigall, her youngest daughter. The Countess herself lived to the age of 85 dying at 29 Portman Square on 18th February 1879.
Executed in Florence in 1820, several copies of this portrait - with minor variations - have appeared on the art market. A study for the child is in the Frederick and Lucy S. Herman Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia.