Elizabeth Rushout, Mrs Myddleton (c.1730-1772)
Francis Cotes (London 1726 - London 1770)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1762
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1454 x 1198 x 75 mm
Place of origin
England
Collection
Chirk Castle, Wrexham
NT 1171185
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Elizabeth Rushout, Mrs Myddleton (c.1730-1772) by Francis Cotes, RA (London 1726 – London 1770), circa 1762. A portrait of Elizabeth Rushout as a young woman, three-quarter length, standing, facing, head turned three-quarters to the right, dark hair dressed high on forehead, wearing a décolleté, high-waisted blue wrapping gown edged with gold lace and with a gold jewelled belt, she also wears a gold cloak edged with ermine and rests her left arm on a pedestal, near the base of a column; in her left hand she holds a white turban with gold feathers; a background of sky and trees. Daughter of Sir John Rushout 4th Bt of Northwick Park and Harrow and Lady Anne Compton (42) and sister of the first Lord Northwick. Painted soon after her marriage to Richard Myddleton (79) in 1761 and her grand connections seemed to have stimulated him to start modernising his inherited Welsh seat. The original Roccoco frames suggest that the portraits were painted before the dismissal at the end of 1764 of William Yoxall of Nantwich, who had proposed the use of 'good Modern Gothik' for transforming the state rooms.
Provenance
Acquired in 1994 by the National Museum of Wales, with the aid of a special grant from the Secretary of State for Wales, for indefinite loan to Chirk Castle, since 1994. Ar fenthyg gan / Lent by Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales to Chirk Castle.
Makers and roles
Francis Cotes (London 1726 - London 1770), artist