Portrait of the Countess of Wilton (?)

A middle-aged woman wears a high-waisted black dress, an ermine stole, a turban, long tan gloves, and pearl jewelry. The style of her costume suggests a date of the portrait of about 1810.

Early Walters catalogues, citing a label on the reverse of the stretcher, identify this painting as Sir Thomas Lawrence's portrait of the Countess of Wilton. As noted by Kenneth Garlick in a letter written to the museum, November 30, 1971, the portrait is stylistically closer to the work of Owen than to that of Lawrence. A portrait of Mary Margaret Stanley (d. 1858), wife of Thomas Grosvenor, Second Earl of Wilton, painted by Lawrence (illustrated in "Les Arts," April 1912, no. 124, p. 1), shows a much younger woman than the individual portrayed in this picture. More likely, this portrait shows Eleanor, daughter of Sir Ralph Assheton, Third Baronet of Middleton, who married Viscount Grey de Wilton, Earl of Wilton and Wilton Castle. This first Countess Wilton, who died in 1816 at the age of sixty-six, was the subject of a portrait in charcoal, wash and sanguine by H. Edridge that was sold in the Doistau Sale, Paris, June 1909, no. 106.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Frederic Bonner Sale, New York, April 10, 1900; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1900, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.