Agnes Bedingfeld, Mrs Thomas Molyneux Seel (1798-1870)
Ferdinando Cavalleri (Turin 1794 - Rome 1865)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1824
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
875 x 700 mm
Place of origin
Rome
Collection
Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk
NT 1210896
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Agnes Bedingfeld, Mrs Thomas Molyneux Seel (1798-1870), holding two white doves. She wears a cream dress and head scarf. She has dark hair, and her eyes are looking down at the doves. Inscribed on back of frame 'Agnes Molyneux-Seel nee Bedingfeld'. Also inscribed on back of canvas 'Painted at Rome'. See also OXB/P/99a. Agnes married Thomas Molyneux Seel in Ghent in October 1823 and this portrait was commissioned on honeymoon in Rome the following year. Agnes is modestly depicted with a pair of doves in the guise of Venus, Goddess of Love. The pair commissioned portrait busts of themselves as well as oil paintings (see NT 1210343, 1210481, 1210517).
Provenance
By descent from Edmund Molyneux Seel (1824-1909) to Dr Edmund Carr-Saunders (1931-2022), from whom on loan to the National Trust 1977-2022, bequeathed to the National Trust 2022.
Makers and roles
Ferdinando Cavalleri (Turin 1794 - Rome 1865), artist