Mary Liddell, Mrs John Myddelton (d. 1741)
Pieter Tillemans (Antwerp 1684 – Suffolk 1734)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1724 (signed)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1450 x 1210 x 70 mm
Place of origin
Great Britain
Order this imageCollection
Chirk Castle, Wrexham
NT 1171131
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Mary Liddell, Mrs John Myddelton (d. 1741) by Pieter Tillemans (Antwerp 1684 – Suffolk 1734), signed bottom left: P.Tilleman F, circa 1724. A three-quarter length portrait of a young woman, seated, facing, head inclined slightly to the left, gazing at spectator, wearing a red décolleté dress over which is draped a blue cloak, her left arm resting on a vase containing a blossoming orange tree, holding a sprig in the proper left hand, her proper right resting on her lap. In the background a formal garden with fountain, urn and temple. Mary Liddell was the daughter of Thomas Liddell of London. Her association with an orange tree and blossom suggests that this was painted around the time of her marriage to John Myddelton in 1724. Previously thought to be Mary, daughter of Richard Myddelton of London and Llysfasi (1631-1700), however Mary never married and would have been much older by the 1720s when this portrait was painted. This picture and NT 1171129 are rare examples of Tillemans' portraiture.
Full description
Associated with Chirk Castle
Provenance
On loan to the National Trust by Guy Myddelton. Purchased by the National Trust from Mr Guy Myddelton in 2023
Marks and inscriptions
Recto, bottom left: P. Tillemans F
Makers and roles
Pieter Tillemans (Antwerp 1684 – Suffolk 1734), artist
References
Laing 1989 Alastair Laing, ‘Changelings at Chirk Castle’, Country Life, 8 June 1989, pp.272 - 75 Lord 2000 Peter Lord, The Visual Culture of Wales: Imaging the Nation, Cardiff University of Wales Press, 2000, p.66, fig. 97