Frances Anne Emily Vane-Tempest, later Marchioness of Londonderry (1800-1865)
Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (Bristol 1769 – London 1830)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1818 - 1830 (exh at BI)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
749 x 622 mm (29 1/2 x 24 1/2 in)
Place of origin
Aachen (Germany)
Order this imageCollection
Mount Stewart, County Down
NT 1542306
Caption
The heiress Frances Anne Vane-Tempest, as second wife of 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, who was described by her close friend, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli as ‘half ruffian, half real lady’, brought wealth to the Stewart family with her inherited estates, including coal mines in the north-east of England, and County Antrim. She loved opulence and enjoyed an intimate chaste relationship with Tsar Alexander who was godfather to her daughter Alexandrina. But she was also noted for reducing hardships of her tenants and employees and providing their children with schools both in England and Ireland. She was the daughter of Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet and through her daughter, Lady Frances Vane, wife of John Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, she was the great-grandmother of Sir Winston Churchill.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Frances Anne Emily Vane-Tempest, later Marchioness of Londonderry (1800-1865) by Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (Bristol 1769 – London 1830), 1818. A half-length engagement portrait of the second wife of Charles, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, whom she married in 1819, in a white dress, holding a chain of keys, red curtain background. This portrait was begun in London and completed in Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany.
Provenance
Begun in London and completed in Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), 1818 by family descent; on loan from the Estate of the Marquess of Londonderry
Credit line
Estate of the Marquess of Londonderry
Makers and roles
Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (Bristol 1769 – London 1830), artist
References
Garlick 1989 Kenneth Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence. A complete catalogue of the oil paintings, Oxford, 1989, 510(a) Urquhart 2007: Diane Urquhart, The Ladies of Londonderry: Women and Political Patronage, Vol. 50. International Library of Historical Studies, I. B. Tauris, London, 2007 Londonderry, Edith Helen Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of, 1879-1959 Frances Anne : 1958., pp. 42, 93