Susanna Maria Hill, Lady Broughton-Delves (1742-1813) (after Reynolds)
after Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1880 - 1889
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2388 x 1448 mm (94 x 57 in)
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 609077
Caption
This is a 19th-century copy of the engraved portrait, which was formerly at Attingham and was sold by Richard Henry Noel Hill, 7th Lord Berwick (1847-1897) to Lord Iveagh, and is now in the Virginia Museum of Arts, Richmond, USA. The identity of this sitter has been questioned, but she is almost certainly Maria, second daughter of Thomas Harwood Hill (created Baron Berwick of Attingham in 1784) of Tern, Salop, and Susanna Noel (d.1760), who was the sister of Noel Hill, 1st Lord Berwick (1745-1789). She married Sir Brian Broughton-Delves, 5th Bt. It is possible that the ‘Lady Broughton’ who appears in Reynolds’s Pocket Books, which recorded names of sitters and payments, referred to the other ‘Lady Broughton’ of the day, Mary Wickers, who was the sitter’s sister-in-law. However, the line of descent suggests that the sitter is indeed Maria.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Susanna Maria Hill, Lady Broughton-Delves (1742-1813), after Sir Joshua Reynolds (Plympton 1723 - London 1792), 1880s. A full-length portrait of the daughter of Thomas (Harwood) Hill and Susanna Maria Noel who married firstly Sir Brian Broughton-Delves, 5th Bt (1740-1766) and secondly Henry Errington, facing, head turned slightly to left, looking down. Her left foot is raised and rests on the base of a plinth on which rests a book which she holds with her left hand, also on the plinth is a small bust of a child or cupid. Her white dress is decorated with a pattern of sprigs of flowers in gold, and she has a blue cloak. A Polidore vase can be seen on the left and behind it is a distant skyscape. This is a late 19th-century copy of the engraved full-length portrait by Thomas Watson dated 10 Aug. 1770, after Sir Joshua Reynolds. The original which was formerly at Attingham was sold by Richard Henry Noel Hill, 7th Lord Berwick (1847-1897) to Lord Iveagh (see Sir Charles Holmes, Pictures from Iveagh Bequest, 1928, pl.49); sold by the Hon. A. Ernest Guinness at Christie's on 20 July 1953 (lot 68), and now in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.
Provenance
The original bequeathed by the sitter, Maria Hill, Lady Broughton-Delves (1742-1813), to her nephew, Thomas Noel-Hill, 2nd Lord Berwick (1770-1832); by descent to Richard Henry Noel-Hill, 7th Lord Berwick (1847-97) who had this copy made (sold the original privately to Wertheimer who sold it, 23 May 1888, via Agnew’s to Sir E.C.Guinness, afterwards 1st Lord Iveagh; now in Virginia Museum Fine Art, Richmond); bequeathed to the National Trust in 1947 with the estate, house and contents of Attingham by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) on 15th May 1953.
Credit line
Attingham Park, The Berwick Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
after Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792), artist