Portrait of Mary, Lady Arundell (1781-1853), three-quarter-length, in a white dress and jewelled turban

Details

SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE, P.R.A. (BRISTOL 1769-1830 LONDON) AND STUDIO
Portrait of Mary, Lady Arundell (1781-1853), three-quarter-length, in a white dress and jewelled turban
oil on canvas
50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.5 cm.)

Provenance

Commissioned as a double portrait by James Everard Arundell, 9th Baron Arundell of Wardour (1763–1817), Wardour Castle, Wiltshire, circa 1812, (200 gns), remained unfinished in the studio at the time of Lawrence's death, from where claimed on 29 March 1830 by the following,
Mary, Lady Arundell (1787-1845), wife of James Everard Arundell, 10th Baron Arundell of Wardour (1785-1834), Wardour Castle, Wiltshire.
Colonel Clement William Joseph Unthank (1847-1936), Intwood Hall, near Norwich; his sale, Robinson and Fisher, London, 28 May 1897 (=2nd day), lot 188, as a double portrait (700 gns.).
with Renton.
Anonymous sale [The Property of a Gentleman]; Robinson and Fisher, London, 21 June 1900, lot 156, as a double portrait.
with Arthur Tooth, London.
with T.J. Blakeslee, New York, from whom acquired in 1914 by the following,
with Robert C. Vose, Boston, from whom acquired in 1923 by the following,
Arthur J. Secor (1857-1941), Toledo, by whom gifted in 1926 to the following,
The Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio; Christie's, New York, 30 January 2014, lot 283.
with Daniel Hunt Fine Art, London, November 2014, where acquired by the present owner.

Literature

Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Academy Notes, XVI, July-December 1921, pp. 53-54, illustrated.
B.M. Godwin, Catalogue of European Paintings, Toledo, 1939, pp. 308-309.
Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 95A, September 1941.
K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, London, 1954, pp. 25 and 72.
K. Garlick, 'A Catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings and Pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence,' The Volume of the Walpole Society, XXXIX, 1962-1964, pp. 23, 275 and 307.
The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 93 and 367, pl. 328.
J.D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America, New York, 1979, p. 193.
K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Oxford, 1989, p. 141, no. 47.
T. Lane, 'What Treasures are in the Vaults?', The Blade, 12 September 2004.

Exhibited

Buffalo, Albright Art Gallery, A Collection of Paintings lent by Messrs. R.C. and N.M. Vose of Boston, Mass., 8-31 January 1921, no. 51.
Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, Portraits and Portraiture Throughout the Ages, 3-31 October 1937, no. 32.
Columbus, The Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Sir Thomas Lawrence as Painter and Collector, 7 October-13 November 1955, no. 2.
Denver, The Denver Art Museum, on loan, 1956.
Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, The Unseen Art of TMA: What's in the Vaults and Why?, 12 September 2004-2 January 2005.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

This portrait, with the sumptuous silks and glittering jewels, was executed at the point when Lawrence was emerging as the unrivalled star of British portraiture. Mary was the daughter of Robert Burnett Jones, who held the office of Attorney-General in Barbados for a period. In 1806 she became the second wife of James Arundell, with whom she had three children: Mary, Henry and Robert. In 1808 James succeeded to the title of Baron of Wardour when the father of his first wife died without leaving a male heir. The painting was originally conceived of as a double portrait, with Mary standing to the left of her husband, who was seated. It is not known why the painting remained unfinished in Lawrence's studio, but the painting was retreived by James son James' wife, another Mary, Lady Arundell, on the artist's death, returning it to Wardour Castle as originally intended. It is likely that the Baron's portrait had more studio interference than that of his wife, which would explain why the two were separated in the early twentieth century; James' portrait was last seen at auction in 1916.

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