Portrait of Lady Charlotte Susan Campbell (1775-1861), daughter of the 5th Duke of Argyll, bust-length

The sitter was a noted author and moved in literary circles, publishing her first book of poems aged twenty-two. She married first in 1796 Colonel John Campbell who died in 1809, by whom she had nine children, however, only two survived her, Lady A Lennox and Mrs. William Russell. She married secondly in 1818, the Reverend Edward John Bury by whom she had two daughters. After she was widowed she became lady in waiting for Queen Charlotte, and recorded in a diary the foibles and failings of the princess and other members of the court. The diary was later published anonymously, and the identity of its author was revealed in the Edinburgh Review by Lord Brougham, though this identification of the author is not universally accepted.

Skirving worked in pastel, miniature and oil and trained at the Trustee's Academy in Edinburgh. In 1786 he travelled to Rome where he remained for eight years, on the journey back his ship was captured and he was detained on charges of spying and imprisoned for seven years. During this time he contracted a serious eye infection, which resulted in him becoming even further introverted and withdrawn. He was said to have spoken to Lady Campbell and asked her to stop her distracted behaviour while sitting to him and as a result of this intervention the present portrait was never finished and when the work appeared at auction in 1997 it had evidently been cut down.

We are grateful to Neil Jeffares and Dr Stephen Lloyd for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.