Margaret Lygon (neé Cocks), Countess of Hardwicke (c. 1695-1761)
Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1716
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1016 x 753 mm
Order this imageCollection
Wimpole, Cambridgeshire
NT 207897
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Margaret Lygon (neé Cocks), Countess of Hardwicke (c. 1695-1761), by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723), circa 1716. A three-quarter-length portrait of Margaret Lygon, lowered gaze towards bottom left, wearing an ivory dress, blue shawl and a black veil, probably to show that she is in mourning. She stands against a ledge with her proper left elbow atop a book. Margaret Cocks was the daughter of Charles Cocks (1646–1727), MP for Worcester and Droitwich, and Mary Somers, and a niece of John Somers, 1st Baron Somers (1651-1716), Lord High Chancellor of England under William III. She married first William Lygon (died 1716) and later Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke (1690-1764), in 1719. The Yorkes had five sons and two daughters and in 1740 bought the estate of Wimpole in Cambridgeshire from the earl of Oxford. Margaret was said to be a woman of ‘sound sense with valuable domestic qualities and a strong personality … and to his marriage the Chancellor owed much, not only of his happy home life, but something even perhaps of his success in public affairs.’ (The Life and Correspondence of Philip Yorke: Earl of Hardwicke, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, Volume 1, by Philip Chesney Yorke, Cambridge University Press, 1913). This is the only known portrait of Margaret and is signed and dated 1716 by Sir Godfrey Kneller, who had been principal painter to both William and Mary (1689-1702) and Queen Anne (1702-1714). There is a studio copy of this portrait on loan to the National Trust at Antony (NT 353044).
Provenance
By descent from Jemima Yorke (c.1767–1804) to Group Captain Alexander Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming (1924-2004); on loan to the National Trust 1992-2021; accepted in lieu of Inheritance tax by H M Government and allocated to the National Trust for Wimpole, 2022.
Makers and roles
Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723)