DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68073#0397
ENGLISH, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
37i
by the Late Duke of Cambridge from his aunt, the second and last
Duchess of Gloucester, who died in 1857.
The sale of this picture created a sensation. Again referring to the
London Times (June 13, 1904), we read: “The honors of the day
distinctly fell to Gainsborough, whose beautiful portrait of Maria
Walpole has established a record price for this artist’s pictures at
auction. Bidding was started on Saturday at 5000 guineas and in
rather more than half a dozen bids reached 12,000 guineas, at which
it was knocked down to Messrs. Agnew & Sons. The price, therefore,
quite eclipses the 10,000 guineas paid in 1876 for the famous stolen
Duchess of Devonshire, which remained the record price for a Gains-
borough until Saturday.”
In the following November, the Majestic brought the $60,000-
Gainsborough to New York.
This portrait, when exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1799, was
described by Sir Horace Walpole as “very good and like.”
Maria Walpole died in 1807, two years after the Duke of Gloucester,
leaving one son and two daughters. Of her other portraits Lionel
Cust in The Royal Collection of Paintings, Vol. I, 1905, says:
“The beautiful Countess of Waldegrave was one of Sir Joshua
Reynolds’s favorite sitters. She sat to him in 1759, after her marriage,
for the full-length portrait in peeress’s robes, which belongs to the
present Earl Waldegrave, and again in 1761 and 1762, for the well-
known portrait in a turban and for the Madonna-like group with
her child, which was bequeathed by Frances, Countess Waldegrave,
to the Due d’Aumale, and is now in the Conde Collection at Chantilly.
She sat again to Reynolds in 1764, as a widow in mourning for her
husband, and more than once again during her widowhood. She sat
to him in October, 1767, when really Duchess of Gloucester, for a
portrait to be given to her father, Sir Edward Walpole.
“After the marriage had been revealed to the world, the Duchess
sat to Reynolds in 1771, for the full-length seated portrait now at
Buckingham Palace. This was exhibited at the Royal Academy in
1774. This portrait descended to her daughter, H. R. H. Princess
Sophia Matilda of Gloucester, who at her death in November, 1844,
37i
by the Late Duke of Cambridge from his aunt, the second and last
Duchess of Gloucester, who died in 1857.
The sale of this picture created a sensation. Again referring to the
London Times (June 13, 1904), we read: “The honors of the day
distinctly fell to Gainsborough, whose beautiful portrait of Maria
Walpole has established a record price for this artist’s pictures at
auction. Bidding was started on Saturday at 5000 guineas and in
rather more than half a dozen bids reached 12,000 guineas, at which
it was knocked down to Messrs. Agnew & Sons. The price, therefore,
quite eclipses the 10,000 guineas paid in 1876 for the famous stolen
Duchess of Devonshire, which remained the record price for a Gains-
borough until Saturday.”
In the following November, the Majestic brought the $60,000-
Gainsborough to New York.
This portrait, when exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1799, was
described by Sir Horace Walpole as “very good and like.”
Maria Walpole died in 1807, two years after the Duke of Gloucester,
leaving one son and two daughters. Of her other portraits Lionel
Cust in The Royal Collection of Paintings, Vol. I, 1905, says:
“The beautiful Countess of Waldegrave was one of Sir Joshua
Reynolds’s favorite sitters. She sat to him in 1759, after her marriage,
for the full-length portrait in peeress’s robes, which belongs to the
present Earl Waldegrave, and again in 1761 and 1762, for the well-
known portrait in a turban and for the Madonna-like group with
her child, which was bequeathed by Frances, Countess Waldegrave,
to the Due d’Aumale, and is now in the Conde Collection at Chantilly.
She sat again to Reynolds in 1764, as a widow in mourning for her
husband, and more than once again during her widowhood. She sat
to him in October, 1767, when really Duchess of Gloucester, for a
portrait to be given to her father, Sir Edward Walpole.
“After the marriage had been revealed to the world, the Duchess
sat to Reynolds in 1771, for the full-length seated portrait now at
Buckingham Palace. This was exhibited at the Royal Academy in
1774. This portrait descended to her daughter, H. R. H. Princess
Sophia Matilda of Gloucester, who at her death in November, 1844,