Grace Louisa, Countess of Ormonde (1779-1860), in lace-bordered white dress, the short sleeves bordered in gold, drop-pearl earring, brown and white bandeau in her long powdered curling hair

Grace Louisa, the daughter of the Rt. Hon. John Staples of Lissan, Co. Tyrone and the Hon. Henrietta, daughter of Richard, 3rd Viscount Molesworth, married John Wandesford Butler (1774-1838) on 12 October 1807 at Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, the year in which this portrait is believed to have been painted. Her husband became the 19th Earl and 1st Marquess of Ormonde on the death of his elder brother, Walter in 1820. At the coronation of George IV in 1821, the Earl of Ormonde was created a peer of the United Kingdom and was installed as a Knight of St. Patrick. In 1825 he became the first Marquess of Ormonde in the Irish peerage. He was Hereditary Chief Butler of Ireland, Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of County Kilkenny and colonel of the Kilkenny Militia. The couple lived in the family home, Kilkenny Castle and had two sons. Two oil on canvas portraits of Grace Louisa, Countess of Ormonde and her husband by John Comerford are in Kilkenny Castle (see P. Caffrey, John Comerford and the Portrait Miniature in Ireland c. 1620-1850, Dublin, 1999, nos. 75-76, pp. 50-51). A further miniature of James Butler, 19th Earl of Ormonde by John Comerford was sold Christie's, London, 9 November 1994, lot 56 (op. cit., no. 91, p. 53, illustrated). William Wood records in his Memorandum of Miniatures that he painted the Hon. Captain Charles Butler, brother to Earl of Ormond (sic), 14th Light Dragoons (G. C. Williamson, The Miniature Collector, London, 1921, Appendix, p. 277).
We are grateful to John Kirwan for his help with this catalogue entry.