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Portrait of a Lady with Mask and Cherries
Benjamin Wilson1753
Dulwich Picture Gallery
London, United Kingdom
Benjamin Wilson was active as a portraitist in London and Dublin. He was also known as a scientist, and his electrical experiments won him a gold medal at the Royal Society in 1760.
The sitter in the portrait - traditionally identified as Lady Anne Walpole (1733-97) - appears in fancy dress. The painting is indebted to Rembrandt’s style and recalls the Dutch master’s portrait of Saskia as Flora in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.
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Details
- Title: Portrait of a Lady with Mask and Cherries
- Creator Lifespan: 1721 - 1788
- Date: 1753
- Physical Dimensions: w707 x h917 cm
- Type: Painting
- Medium: Oil
- Work Nationality: British
- Support: Canvas
- Provenance: Fairfax Murray Gift, 1911.
- Further Information: In this work Wilson emulates the style of Rembrandt, recalling his 'Saskia as Flora', 1634 in the Hermitage, St Petersburg. The catalogue of the Christie's sale, 22 January 1898 (lot 88) records a traditional identification of the sitter as Lady Anne Walpole (1733-97). She was one of the three daughters of Horatio, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton (1678-1757) and no portraits of her in her maturity are recorded. The face somewhat resembles that of her cousin Lady Mary Walpole (c.1725-1801), who married in 1745 the poet Charles Churchill) as seen in J.G. Eccardt's portrait in the Lewis Farmington Library, or in Benjamin Wilson's so-called 'Peg Woffington' in the Garrick Club.
- Artist: Wilson, Benjamin
- Acquisition Method: Fairfax Murray, Charles (Gift, 1911)
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