Portrait of William Robert Fitzgerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster (1748-1804); and Portrait the Duchess of Leinster, née Emily Olivia Usher St George (1759-1798)

Leinster was the premier Duke in Ireland. He succeeded to the title in 1773, inheriting also a seat at Carton and Leinster House in Dublin. He served as Member of Parliament in Dublin in the six years beforehand. He was a founding member of the Order of the Knights of St Patrick, of the Royal Irish Academy and also a Grand Master of the Irish Freemasons. His marriage to Emily St George, an heiress, in 1175 eased the Duke's financial pressures.

The Duke and Duchess were Hamilton's great patrons in Dublin, for other portraits of them by Hamilton see N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, London, 2006, p. 225. The portrait of the Duchess is a version of the pastel at Castletown, Jeffares, op. cit., p. 232Ci (as of an unknown sitter).

We are grateful to Neil Jeffares for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry on the basis of a photograph.