Barbara Slingsby, Lady Talbot
school of Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1660
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1245 x 991 mm (49 x 39 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Lacock, Wiltshire
NT 996294
Caption
Barbara Slingsby was the daughter of Sir Harry Slingsby, 1st Bt. of Scriven (1602 – 1658), who was a renowned diarist, and later beheaded by Oliver Cromwell. She was the second wife of Sir John Talbot (1630 – 1714), whom she married in 1660. She bore him two sons and three daughters, but the inheritance skipped a generation, when her long-lived husband outlived his heir, Sharington (1656 - 1685), and Lacock passed to John Ivory Talbot (?1691 – 1772), the issue of her daughter Anne (1665 – 1720) and Sir John Ivory (1655 – 95). She is shown in dress typical of Lely, with a provocative, low chemise, and a loosely gathered silk dress.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Barbara Slingsby, Lady Talbot, school of Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680). A three-quarter-length portrait of the wife of Sir John Talbot, standing, facing, in a landscape, leaning over a pedestal and wearing a blue cloak (pigment discoloured) and brown dress over a white shift. Daughter of Sir Henry Slingsby Bt (1602 – 1658), whose portrait hangs in the South Gallery (P/51), and second wife of Sir John Talbot (1630 – 1714), whom she married in 1660. She bore him two sons and three daughters, but the inheritance skipped a generation, when her long-lived husband outlived his heir, Sharington (1656 - 1685), and Lacock passed to John Ivory Talbot (?1691 – 1772), the issue of her daughter Anne (1665 – 1720) and Sir John Ivory (1655 – 95).
Provenance
Given by Matilda Theresa Talbot (formerly Gilchrist-Clark) (1871 – 1958), who gave the Abbey, the village of Lacock and the rest of the estate to the National Trust in 1944, along with 96 of the family portraits and other pictures, in 1948
Credit line
Lacock Abbey, The Talbot Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Inscribed (in later script) bottom right: Barbara Daughter of / Sir Harry Slingsby [rest illegible]
Makers and roles
school of Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680), artist