Called The Hon. Harriet Molesworth, The Hon. Mrs John Staples (1745-1812) but most probably Harriett Conolly, Mrs John Staples (d.1771)
William Hoare of Bath, RA (Eye 1707 – Bath 1792)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
1730 - 1770
Materials
Pastel on paper
Measurements
590 x 438 mm (23 1/4 x 17 1/4 in)
Place of origin
Bath
Order this imageCollection
Springhill, County Londonderry
NT 215956
Summary
Pastel on paper, called The Hon. Harriet Molesworth, The Hon. Mrs John Staples (1745-1812) but most probably Harriett Conolly, Mrs John Staples (d.1771) as The Personification of Spring by William Hoare of Bath, RA (Eye 1707 – Bath 1792). A nearly half-length depiction of a woman turned slightly to right, her head turned slightly left, wearing a loose blue dress and bandeau, and holding a basket of flowers. This may be a portrait or one of Hoare's 'fancy' pictures, perhaps personifying Spring. If it is a portrait it is done in the manner of a fancy picture, and probably depicts the same woman as in NT 216380, a portrait by Francis Coates. The purported sitter, the Hon. Harriet Molesworth was the fourth daughter of Richard, 3rd Viscount Molesworth but the first by his second wife Mary Ussher, and the second wife of John Staples, MP, of Lissan. Their daughter Charlotte married William Lenox-Conyngham of Springhill. When their house in Brook Street, London, caught fire, and her mother, her uncle, and two of her sisters were burnt to death, she jumped to safety, but in doing so broke her leg, which had to be amputated (6th May 1763). The more likely sitter, however, is Harriett Conolly (d.1771) who was the third daughter of the Rt Hon. William Conolly of Castletown and Stratton Hall, Staffs(nephew and heir of Speaker William Conolly of Castletown), MP for Ballyshannon (1727-1753) and Lady Anne Wentworth. She was married in 1764 to the Rt Hon. John Staples and produced two daughters: Louisa, later Lady Pakenham, and Henrietta, or Harriett, later Countess of Clancarty; and a son, William Conolly Staples (d.1798), who married Anne (d.1867), daughter of Sir James Stewart, 7th Bt, of Castle Stewart, but died without issue.
Provenance
Mrs Harriet Gage of Ballymoney; purchased by National Trust in 1957 from William Lowry Lenox-Conyngham (1903–1957), shortly before his death, along with the other contents of Springhill.
Credit line
Springhill, The Lenox-Conyngham Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: Label on back: Dublin Industrial ?? / Loan Museum of Art Trea (?) Artist's Name: Rosalba (Rosalba Carriera 1675=1758), Owner name: Mrs Harriet Gage.
Makers and roles
William Hoare of Bath, RA (Eye 1707 – Bath 1792), artist Rosalba Carriera (Venice 1673 - Venice 1757), artist