Portrait bust of Mary Cornelia Vane-Tempest, 5th Marchioness of Londonderry (1828-1906)
John Edward Jones (Dublin 1806 - Finglas 1862)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1858
Materials
Marble
Measurements
685 x 450 x 280 mm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Mount Stewart, County Down
NT 1542343
Summary
Sculpture, marble; portrait bust of Mary Cornelia Vane-Tempest, 5th Marchioness of Londonderry (1828-1906); John Edward Jones (1806-1862); 1858. One a group of four portrait busts commissioned from the Irish sculptor John Edward Jones in 1857 and 1858, depicting Frances Anne Vane, 3rd Marchioness of Londonderry and three members of her close family.
Full description
A sculpted marble portrait bust of Mary Cornelia Vane-Tempest, 5th Marchioness of Londonderry (1828-1906), by John Edward Jones. The sitter is depicted facing slightly to her left. She wears a simple underdress with a plain border at the neck, over this a dress fastened at the front, and into which is placed a stylised flower. Her hair is parted at the centre and at the back is partly drawn together and loose coiled at the back of the head. Some fleshy leaves emerge from the bun and curl sinuously. Tucked into the right side of the head is another flower. Mounted on a turned marble socle, and signed and dated on the back. One of a group of four portrait busts commissioned in 1857 and 1858 from the London-based Irish sculptor John Edward Jones, depicting Lady Londonderry, two of her sons and her daughter-in-law. The other portraits are of: Frances Anne Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry (NT 1542342) and her first and second sons, George Vane-Tempest, later 5th Marquess of Londonderry (NT 1542336), and Lord Adolphus Vane-Tempest (NT 1542335). This bust has until recently been identified as a portrait of Lady Alexandrina Octavia Mary Vane, Countess of Portarlington (1823-1874), Frances Anne’s second daughter. However, the subject is in fact Mary Cornelia, daughter of Sir John Edwards of Plas Machynlleth in Montgomeryshire, Powys, who married George Vane-Tempest, then styled Viscount Seaham, in 1846. The couple spent much of their lives at Plas Machynlleth, which Mary Cornelia inherited on her father’s death in 1867. They had six children, three boys and three girls, two of their daughters dying at tragically young ages (see Matthew Noble’s bust of Lady Avarina Vane-Tempest at Mount Stewart, NT 1542337). Their eldest son Charles became the sixth Marquess of Londonderry. Proud of her Welsh ancestry, sometimes heard to say ‘the blood of Welsh princes runs in my veins’, Mary Cornelia was known to all her children and grandchildren as ‘Mummy Londonderry’ and had a reputation as a kind and gentle person, who would go to any lengths to help friends or other people she came across who were in need (Montgomery Hyde 1979, pp. 54, 59) The Londonderrys were especially noted for their help to the poor and their many other good works in Machynlleth. After Mary Cornelia’s death in 1906, a portrait bust of her was erected in the grounds of Plas Machynlleth, today a public park, the inscription recording its erection by the ‘grateful community and many friends … to perpetuate the memory of one who by her wide sympathies, good life and good works, endeared herself to all in this ancient town’. John Edward Jones was born in Dublin and began his professional career as an engineer working both in Ireland and in Britain. He also however showed aptitude as an amateur sculptor and draughtsman. In around 1840 Jones decided to change career to become a professional artist, based in London. He enjoyed considerable success as a portrait sculptor, frequently exhibiting at the Royal Academy in London and at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin. Jeremy Warren October 2022
Provenance
Wynyard Park; on loan from the Estate of the Marquess of Londonderry
Credit line
Estate of the Marquess of Londonderry
Marks and inscriptions
On back: : J.E. JONES. Sc./ LONDON. 1858
Makers and roles
John Edward Jones (Dublin 1806 - Finglas 1862), sculptor
References
Wynyard 1949: Inventory and Valuation of the Contents of Wynyard Park, Co. Durham, the property of the Most Honourable the Marquess of Londonderry… deceased. Prepared for the purpose of probate by H. Clifford-Smith. 1949, p. 35. Hyde, 1979: Harford Montgomery Hyde. The Londonderrys: a family portrait. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1979.