Lady ‘Harriot’ Christian Henrietta Caroline Fox-Strangways, Mrs John Dyke Acland (1749/50-1815)
Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1771 (inscribed)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1270 x 1016 mm (50 x 40 in)
Order this imageCollection
Killerton, Devon (Accredited Museum)
On show at
Killerton, Devon, South West, National Trust
NT 922317
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Lady ‘Harriot’ Christian Henrietta Caroline Fox-Strangways, Mrs John Dyke Acland (1750-1815) by Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792), inscribed bottom left: Lady Harriot Acland / 1771. Portrait of a young woman, three-quarter-length, seated, turned slightly to the right, full profile to the right. Seated beside a stone pillar and plinth which are to the far left. She rests her right elbow on the plinth, her right hand pointing downwards rests on her lap. She had brown hair which is dressed high on the head with a blue ribbon. She is wearing a white dress with gold braiding, a gold embroidered 'Turkish' scarf at her waist and a white gauze shawl with gold braiding is wrapped over both shoulders and arms. Behind in the centre are some trees and on the right is a distant landscape view with trees and cloudy sky. Daughter of Stephen Fox, 1st Earl of Ilchester and Elizabeth Horner; married Colonel John Dyke Acland (1746-1778). (1 of a pair - see KIL/P/82).
Provenance
Acquired from Sir John Dyke Acland, 16th Bt (b.1939), from Sprydon House, 2001
Makers and roles
Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792), artist
References
Catalogue of the Third and Concluding Special Exhibition of National Portraits, commencing with the fourth year of the reign of George the Third and ending with the year MDCCCLXVII. South Kensington Museum. April 13, 1868., No.865 Works by the Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the British School (exh cat), Royal Academy, London, 2 January - 11 March 1882, No.40 Loan Collection of Works by Early Devon Painters born before the year 1800, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, 1932, No.262 Graves and Cronin 1899-1901 Algernon Graves and W.V.Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 4 vols, London 1899-1901, i, 8-9 Waterhouse 1941 Ellis K. Waterhouse, Reynolds, London, 1941, No.62. Mannings, 2000: David Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings. The Subject Pictures catalogued by Martin Postle, New Haven & London, 2000, "34. ACLAND, Lady Harriot (1750-1815) Christian Henrietta ('Harriot') Caroline Fox Strangways, daughter of the 1st Earl of Ilchester and his wife Elizabeth Strangways Horner; married 3 June 1770 John Dyke Acland. Her older sister, Lady Susan O'Brien was also painted by Reynolds (see 677). fig. 1014. PRIVATE COLLECTION 127 x 101 cm. PROVENANCE: By descent to Sir Francis Dyke Acland, Bt; at Killerton until 1970. EXHIBITED: South Kensington 1868 (865); RA 1882 (40); Exeter 1`932 (262) LITERATURE: Graves & Cronin, i, 8; W[aterhouse, Reynolds, 1941) 62. Painted 1771. White dress, gold embroidered 'Turkish' scarf at waist. There are 15 appointments with Lady Harriot Acland (Reynolds spells her name 'Ackland') in 1771: Feb. 15, 19, 23 and 25 (all at one thirty), Mar.9 (one thirty), 16 (at two), 18 and 21 (both at one thirty), 23 (two fifteen), 27 (at two), Apr. 4, 6, 10, 15, 30 (all at two, the last appointment with 'Lady Harriot & Lady Lucy' - Lucy was Harriot's younger sister); and May 1 (one-thirty). The picture was therefore almost entirely painted in 1771 with one final appointment on 9 Mar. 1772 (again at one-thirty), perhaps for finishing touches. In the 1st Ledger, sums of 70 gns are entered as due (not as paid) against the names of Mr Acland and Lady Harriot, after 12 Apr, 1771, but both entries are cancelled (Cormack 1970, 109). Settlement is recorded in the 2nd Ledger (Cormack 1970, 109): 7- gns was paid for Lady Harriot's picture between 12 May 1772 and Sep. 1775 (ibid 144). Waterhouse, who saw this picture in 1937, praised it as 'full of character; [the] hands well drawn in Vandyckian mode' (EKLW / Notes)."