.NjU3Ng.NDU2Mw

FULL-LENGTH PORTRAIT OF THE HONOURABLLE ANNE DUNCOMBE AFTERWARDS COUNESS OF RADNOR BY THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH

ANNE DUNCOMBE, daughter of Anthony Duncombe, who was created Lord Feversham in 1747, married in 1777 Jacob, second Earl of Radnor. She died in 1829. She is represented walking in a park and stepping towards the spectator, with her face turned three-quarters to the right, and hands crossed in front of her, in the right hand she holds her hat, trimmed with pearls and white plumes, and her left hand is toying with a string of pearls. Her light auburn, slightly powdered hair, dressed with pearls, is brushed back from the high forehead, and curly locks undulate gracefully over her shoulders. Her dress consists of a long blue satin train bordered with pearl embroidery and draped at the sides, showing a full view of a white satin underskirt richly ornamented with pearls. The low-cut corsage is adorned with strings of pearls and fastened with a large ruby and pearl jewel, she wears and Elizabethan lace collar, lace ruffles to the short three-quarter puffed sleeves, and white stain shoes with pearl fastenings. On the left of the elaborate and charming background is a columnated architectural structure, with birch trees in the foreground, on the right, another clump of these picturesque trees, and behind, and expanse of wooded country extending to the far distance, under a cloudy sky warmed by sunlight showing through over the horizon. Size of canvas: 7 ft. 81/2 in. by 5 ft. 1 in. This remarkable picture was painted about 1774. It was engraved by J. Scott in 1872. Exhibited at the Old Masters Exhibition, Burlington House, 1907, at the Berlin Academy in 1908, and illustrated in the catalogue, and at Agnew's Annual Exhibition in 1902. This portrait is mentioned in Armstrong's "Gainsborough," pp. 201, and illustrated p. 44. Its is also illustrated in Graves's "Engraved Works of Gainsborough."